I Can Fix You
by cherryblu
Summary: What would have happened if they used Claire’s blood to revive her biological father? Then what would become of Sylar’s body after sedating him? What if Matt brainwashed Sylar for a different reason? Definate Sylaire.
1. The Killer In Me

_**I Can Fix You**_

A/N: I don't own Heroes. Anyone or anything you don't recognize belongs to me.

Summery: Set during _An Invisible Thread_. What would have happened if they used Claire's blood to revive her biological father? Then what would become of Sylar's body after sedating him?

* * *

Peter held tightly onto Sylar's hand as Sylar was forced to revert to his true form, a result of trying to absorb the President's DNA, who was actually Peter. Peter then jabbed the needle into Sylar's jugular and pumped the drug into his system.

"Bet you didn't think I took that from you," Peter comments, slumping back in the seat, watching Sylar fall to his side, unconscious. Peter looked at him, feeling disgusted with himself for ever having considered Sylar as an ally, even a friend, had they not found out that the elder Petrellis played Sylar as a fool and told him they were his true parents.

The door to the limo opened and Claire poked her head in. "You got him," she says, eyes on the slumped figure before them.

"Yeah," Peter says, stepping out of the limo, dragging Sylar's body with him. "There's Noah, we need to hurry; we don't know how long it'll take for Sylar's healing ability to metabolize the drug."

Noah is on his cell phone, talking in hushed tones. As he sees Peter and Claire approaching with Sylar, he hangs up and meets the other half way. "Peter, do you still have the needle?"

"Yeah," Peter says, motioning his free hand.

"We're going to need Claire's blood."

"What happened? Why would we need my blood?" Claire asks, her short stature slightly struggling under Sylar's weight.

"It's Nathan," Noah says, his expression grave. "He's dead. If we hurry, we might be able to bring him back."

Claire is becoming choked up, and Peter asks, "So what do we do with Sylar?"

"Your mother wants you two to bring him up to the suite; she hadn't said anything else as to what to do with him. I am going back to Building 26, we are going to need one of those inhibitors." Noah reaches over to Claire for a brief hug and kisses the top of her head. "Just remember, as soon as you get to the suite, inject Nathan with your blood, until he comes back. It worked before, it _will_ work again."

Claire wipes away tears and nods. "I'll be gone no more than fifteen minutes, I promise," Noah says, and they part ways. Claire and Peter drag Sylar to the staff elevator of the hotel and goes to the penthouse floor. Reaching the floor, they continue on their way to the suite. The doors were still open, and looking in, Claire and Peter see Angela kneeling beside Nathan's body, shoulders visibly shaking with Matt Parkman standing beside her, looking grim.

"Mom!" Peter cries out, not quite gently laying Sylar's body on a nearby couch. Angela looks up at Peter, eyes red and with Nathan's blood on her hands and down the front of her jacket. Then she sees the needle in her youngest son's hand, looks over at Claire and then back at Peter.

"Can it be done?" She asks, instantly knowing the needle's purpose.

Claire nods, "It's worked before."

Angela nods, and she and Matt move to make way for Peter and Claire. As Claire removed her sweater, Peter unzips Nathans jacket to reveal his blood soaked shirt, his neck having been slit by Sylar. Grabbing a broken shard of glass, Peter cuts the shirt open to expose Nathan's chest. Turning to Claire, he sees that the needle is already filled with her blood. Taking the needle, Peter positions it over Nathan's heart and jams it into his chest, pumping Claire's blood into his brother. Nothing happened.

"Why isn't it working?" Matt asks.

"Maybe it's because Nathan's dead," Claire says, allowing Peter to draw more blood from her arm. "Dad said the Company used nearly a pint of my blood to bring him back, after Mohinder shot him." As Claire spoke, Noah walks in, carrying with him several small gas tanks containing the neural tranquilizers and the inhibitor devises used to contain special people. As Peter repeats the action, Noah hooks the inhibitor to Sylar.

It takes the third injection to fruit any results. Nathan's neck wound stitches back together and his eyes shoot open, gasping for breath that had momentarily left his lungs. Nathan sits upright, feeling his neck. "Ma?" Nathan questions, looking at his mother.

"Oh, Nathan!" Angela cries, hugging her son. After a moment, Nathan sees Sylar, still unconscious.

"What's he still doing here?" Nathan demands.

"That's what I'm wondering, also," Noah comments.

Angela looks over at Matt. Matt looks back, questioning in is his gaze. Then his eyes widens with comprehension. "No!" Matt declares. "Do you have any idea how insane that is?"

"Mom," Peter says, slowly, "what are you planning?"

"Angela wants me to brainwash Sylar back to his old life," Matt says.

The others look at Angela, with looks of confusion and disgust on their faces.

"Angela," Noah starts, "do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Sylar's a killer; we have to put him down while we have the upper hand. We have to take him to Coyote Sands."

She looks at Noah, her chin up. "Sylar's a survivor. Do you really believe we can keep him sedated for the six hour drive? Every time we try to eliminate Sylar, he retaliates ten-fold. Are you willing to sacrifice hundreds of innocent lives trying to stop Sylar? From the start, we're just as much to blame for the person he became. You know that, Noah."

"Sylar was already a killer when we found him."

"Yes, he was. And if we had not come into his life, he would have been in his little shop, _hanging_ from a noose he'd made. Dead. Wrought with guilt and grief," Angela says. "But then Miss Elle Bishop became too emotionally involved with Sylar. Isn't that right, Noah?"

"Wait," Claire interjects. "Elle was involved with him?"

Angela answers before Noah could, "Yes, but we weren't finding out how his ability worked. That was what the objective was. So we had to sacrifice a life."

"We didn't make him kill Mr. Zeitlan," Noah declares defensively. "He made that choice on his own."

"Of course he did. We just manipulated his need for approval to fit our curiosity. We took an already disturbed young man….and broke him. Why do you think he's been so intent on destroying our lives?" Angela asks, a tired look overtaking her face.

"Because the Company destroyed his," Nathan finishes. "What exactly do you plan to do, Ma?"

"Mr. Parkman will erase all memories of him being Sylar, memories of his murders, and all his powers. He'll just be….Gabriel Gray."

"So we erase his memories and just dump him?" Peter asks.

"No. We must stay with him. We'll take him to Walter Reed, make up a back story to explain why he can't remember the last two years."

"What if his abilities crop up?" Matt inquires.

"He has the ability to know when someone's lying," Claire says. "There is no way he'll go a day without hearing someone telling a lie."

Angela, exhausted but still full of confidence, replies, "He will have no awareness of his abilities, that part of the brain will remain inactive, but they will eventually crop up, and so will his memories."

Noah nearly explodes, "Then what is the purpose of keeping him alive now?"

"Because we'll still be at his side. Yes, he will regain his memories. But, we must help him get through this. In the past, I told him I had a vision of him as a hero. It was true, and I still see it now. I saw the vision on the drive here," Angela looks over Nathan, Matt standing behind him. "It is part of the vision I thought was portraying Matt saving Nathan. This right here is what I saw."

"But he killed Nathan, Mom!" Peter says, still trying to comprehend what his mother is saying.

"Yes, but I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, Sylar being one of them. I need to make amends with what I've done. I am not going to force you to help me through this, but I believe it is the right thing to do. Sylar has the potential to become a great man. If there was anything you could do to help someone, _anything,_ wouldn't you do it?"

"Ah, jeez, Ma!" Nathan exclaims, burying his face in his hands. "Alright, alright, I'm in. But only to keep an eye you, I can probably pull some strings to get Sylar into Walter Reed."

Angela smiles a small, but confident, smile. She looks expectantly at the others, and slowly, but reluctantly, they agree. "Only to make sure you don't go over your head with this plan," Noah says. "I still don't agree with this."

"Of course you don't, Noah," Angela says, getting to her feet. "Now, we must hurry, there's not a lot of time left."

Matt goes over to the couch Sylar is on and picks him up. After Claire finds a clean shirt for Nathan to wear, they move out of the suite and down to Noah's SUV in the basement garage. They make it to the military hospital in record time. Nathan used his political connections to get the group in, and Matt used his ability to make the hospital workers oblivious to Sylar's inhibitor and the blood on Angela.

"Alright, Matt," Angela says, once they were alone in the hospital room. "Just repeat what I told you in the care."

Matt nods, but is still reluctant. Leaning over Sylar, Matt begins, "_You are no longer Sylar. Sylar doesn't exist. Sylar is just the brand of a watch you used to own. You are Gabriel Gray. A watchmaker, you are good at what you do. You are a son, friend. You are a good person. You will have no memory of the people you murdered, or the abilities you have. You're just a normal person."_

Matt finishes, and looks over at Angela. "Did you remember to leave the memories of Elle, and alter the way they met?" Angela asks.

Matt nods, "Yeah, and I remembered to leave a ghost of a memory of all of us, just like you asked."

Just then, Sylar begins to stir. He moans and his eyes slowly open. Without getting up, he slowly observes his surrounding, taking in everyone in the room. His gaze eventually lands on Angela, "I….know you, don't I?"

* * *

A/N: Love it? Hate it? I am an obsessive fan of anything Sylar/Zachary Quinto, so I apologize for not getting the other characters 'in character'. And this is another version of matt putting the Parkman-whammy on Sylar. I hope you'll stick with me long enough elaborate the implanted memories sylar has.


	2. Tell Me What To Say

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

_Peter held tightly onto Sylar's hand and then jabbed the needle into Sylar's jugular and pumped the drug into his system. _

"_You got him," Claire says._

"_Your mother wants you two to bring him up to the suite."_

_Nathan's neck wound stitches back together and his eyes shoot open, gasping for breath that had momentarily left his lungs._

"_What's he still doing here?" Nathan demands._

"_Angela wants me to brainwash Sylar back to his old life," Matt says._

"_I believe it is the right thing to do."_

_Matt begins, __**"**__**You are no longer Sylar. Sylar doesn't exist. Sylar is just the brand of a watch you used to own. You are Gabriel Gray. A watchmaker, you are good at what you do. You are a son, friend. You are a good person. You will have no memory of the people you murdered, or the abilities you have. You're just a normal person."**_

"_I….know you, don't I?"_

* * *

Chapter 2: Tell Me What To Say (And I'll Say It To You)

* * *

"Yes, Gabriel," Angela says. "We've only met once, however. You knew my youngest son, Peter, the longest."

Slowly, Gabriel pulls himself upright. "What happened?"

"You were in a car accident. You suffered massive head injuries, doctors didn't believe you were going to make it. That was two years ago Gabriel," Angela tells him.

"What? Two years?"

"You've been in a coma, Gabriel," Noah says, his face bearing no expression.

"What do you remember, Gabriel?" Angela asks, her direct stare boring into Gabriel's skull, making him slightly uncomfortable.

Gabriel stared, looking at nothing in particular, but his brows furrowed a bit, "I…I'm not sure. It was Valentines Day, and Mamma Mia was performing in Times Square. There was so much snow, Elle was cursing up a storm about the weather re---" Gabriel stops in the middle of the sentence, eyes widening. "ELLE! What happened to her? Where is she? Can I see her?"

"I'm sorry, Gabriel," Angela says, "but Elle was killed instantly in the car accident. She never felt a thing."

Time stops for Gabriel. _Elle_. "She's gone?"

"Yes. Right now, you are at Walter Reed---"

"The military hospital? Why aren't I in New York? Why was I brought to DC? Why isn't my mother here?"

Angela raises a hand to silence Gabriel. "All will be explained in due time. Would you like to rest, or would you like me to finish?"

Gabriel looks abashed, "Sorry."

Instead of Angela speaking, Matt finishes explaining, "Your mother was a victim of a home invasion gone wrong. She had been raising money for your hospital stay; your insurance ran out, so she had to sell your shop and most of the possessions you two had in order to keep you at the hospital. After her death, what life insurance she had went to your hospital stay, but eventually that ran out."

"So what brought me to DC?" Gabriel inquires, his hands clinching onto the hospital sheets.

"I was an old friend of Elle's," Peter speaks up. "She introduced us a month before the accident. Do you remember me?"

"Vaguely, but that still doesn't tell me everything," Gabriel says, numb.

"I've made a lot of mistakes in the past," Angela says. "I was too hard on my sons, manipulated people into doing what I want, particularly after my husband past away. By the time I realized how alone I was, it was too late. So I resorted to asking how I could make it up to them, and Peter told me about you."

"So you felt sorry for me, then," Gabriel comments, a single tear sliding down his right cheek.

"You had no one else, Gabriel. It was the right thing to do."

Gabriel nods, wiping away the tear. "Ok, then. What happens to me now? No family, no home, no money, does not really do me any good."

Noah suddenly provides the clothes Gabriel was wearing before as Sylar, "We've made arrangements; you'll be staying with me for a couple of days until you decide where you want to go."

Gabriel slides off the bed, and pulls on the draw string keeping his hospital gown from exposing his backside. He notices Claire standing in the corner, and blushes. Claire rolls her eyes and excuses herself from the room. When he is dressed, Gabriel is beckoned to follow Noah back into the hallway, with Angela, Peter, Nathan, Claire and Matt walking behind him and at his sides. Gabriel wonders to himself why there were not any paperwork to sign, and how they knew he would regain consciousness that very day. But for once, somehow, Gabriel knew it would be ok.

They walk over to an outdoor café that overlooks the Potomac River. While Matt, Gabriel and Claire oh-so casually order water and a deli sandwich, Noah, Angela, Peter and Nathan walk over to a near-by newspaper stand, talking in hushed tones.

"He doesn't like me much, does he?" Gabriel asks, aimlessly picking off the crust of his tuna sandwich. "The man with the glasses." Matt and Claire glance at each other. "That's ok," Gabriel assures them, "I don't really like me, either."

"Uh…" Claire stutters, "why do you say that?"

Gabriel shrugs his shoulders, "The way he keeps looking over here, at me. I dunno. I have never been the most exciting person to be around. I had felt I could have done more with my life. I use to wish, growing up, that someone would come take me away and tell me my parents weren't really my parents. Don't get me wrong, they were good people, it's just that, after my dad left…..my mother was never satisfied with the life we had, always saying I never lived up to my potential. I felt so small, insignificant. As a watchmaker, I fixed old watches…and I was good at it, and I was content with it. But my mother wouldn't let me happy with that…." Gabriel inhales deeply, "Enough of that. Are there any good films out?"

Quietly, Claire and Matt tell Gabriel of all the gossip happening in the world, and Gabriel's personal monologue is momentarily forgotten.

Over by the news stand, the others quietly converse. "What is going to happen when Sylar's memories start emerging?" Noah wants to know.

"We tell him the truth," Angela simply states. "When he sees that the people who loathes him the most standing at his side, during his duration as Gabriel, he'll see that we mean no harm to him. You may not feel responsible, Noah, but I do, and I intend to correct the wrong the Company had committed on him. Even after all the things he had done to us."

"Ma, do you really think we can mold him into the perfect citizen?" Nathan asks. "What if he sees this as a way for you to create your perfect little soldier?"

"He won't," Angela says, confidently. "He will be able to see the logic in this."

"I think it will work," Peter says, suddenly remembering. "Back when the Level 5 escapees held up the bank, I was transported to the future. I saw Sylar as Gabriel. He had a son, and he named him Noah. He…he was the kind of person I would have been proud to call a friend. He was a good man, and a good father."

"Angela, you said that you still see him as a hero," Noah says. "What is going to happen that will make him a hero?"

"His father will come after us all."

"His father?" Nathan asks.

"I don't know all the details, but he will slaughter us all to get what he wants. I'm also sure that he has the same ability as _Gabriel. He knows how things work_," Angela says, stressing the last part while looking at Noah.

"I can do what _Gabriel_ can do," Peter says. "Why is it only him that stop his father?"

Angela places her right hand on Peter's cheek, "Because you're not a killer Peter. It's the only way to stop him. Gabriel knew that when you went to stop your father, so he took that burden for you." Angela then, affectionately, slaps his cheek, and turns to head back to the table Matt, Claire and Gabriel are sitting.

* * *

A/N: special thanks to **Angel-Huntress**, **smithsbabe65**, **the s33r**, and **Lady Gisborne** for being my first reviewers. I'm glad you like it. I'm hoping this story is making sense b/c Im writing this in one sit thru and its almost midnight. If there are any plot holes between this and the show, im sorry, but I doubt I will bother going back to fix it unless it is one big monstrosity that I have but no choice to go back and fix.

Until then, good night and farewell.

* * *


	3. I Will Buy You A New Life

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

"_You were in a car accident. You suffered massive head injuries."_

"_You've been in a coma, Gabriel."_

"_He doesn't like me much, does he? The man with the glasses. The way he keeps looking over here, at me. I dunno. I have never been the most exciting person to be around. I had felt I could have done more with my life…I felt so small, insignificant. As a watchmaker, I fixed old watches…and I was good at it, and I was content with it. But my mother wouldn't let me happy with that…."_

"_Angela, you said that you still see him as a hero," Noah says. "What is going to happen that will make him a hero?"_

"_His father will come after us all. He will slaughter us all to get what he wants."_

* * *

Chapter 3: I Will Buy You A New Life

* * *

In Noah's apartment, Gabriel sits outside on the deck, the waning sunlight basking his face as he overlooks the DC landmarks in the horizon. Inside, Noah, Matt, and Nathan are standing around Angela as she types out documents on Noah's computer.

"Ma," Nathan starts, "how can you afford all that to Sylar…er…Gabriel? You were never that generous with Peter or me."

Angela looks at her eldest son, "Nathan, this isn't my money, it's the Company's. With Bob Bishop's ability, we have enough funds to relieve the national debt crisis….three times over. Where do you think you got the funding for your campaign for congress? Or how Heidi has been able to send Simon and Monty to private school after the divorce? Should I also remind you who paid for your honeymoon to Paris?"

Matt rolls his eyes, "Well, be prepared when Noah gives you the credit card bill after Peter and Claire return from shopping for Gabe's new clothes and necessities….and don't give me that look, Bennet. Claire told you Hollister is having summer sale with fifty- to seventy-five percent off. I didn't have to be a mind reader to know Claire's going to take advantage of a summer blow-out sale."

"Children, that is enough," Angela says. "Sputtering about money will get you no where. It is just enough for him to get by. My contacts have agreed to forge the necessary documents to backup the claims we told Gabriel."

Before anymore could be said, Gabriel comes back inside the apartment and both Peter and Claire walk in with nearly a dozen shopping bags, and Matt gives Noah an 'I-told-you-so' look. "Good god!" Gabriel cries, relieving Claire of her load. In a meek voice, Gabriel says, "You guys…I really appreciate what you're doing for me. You all have been so generous and so kind to me this past week…I still don't understand why?"

Peter speaks up, "If there's one thing you should know about my mother, it's that you never try to understand her. I still have a hard time understanding her myself."

Gabriel sighs, "Yeah." Looking over at Matt, Gabriel asks, "So, when do we head out west?"

_Five months later-Costa Verde _

Gabriel wakes up a quarter till five that morning, in the apartment he now shares with Matt Parkman. Matt was able to get his job back on the LAPD, only now as a detective. He was able to get Gabriel a job at the LAX, transporting luggage around. It was a far cry from his previous job as a watchmaker, but he did not mind it as much as he thought he would. The physical activity kept his mind from thinking too much. He used to crave peace and quiet, but now, peace and quiet made him restless.

Right then, the restlessness forces Gabriel to get out of bed and walk toward the laundry basket containing the sweat pants he wears for jogging. Slipping that and a shirt on, Gabriel looks around his far too tidy of a bachelor pad for his running shoes, and his gaze fall onto a framed picture of him and Elle, the only thing Mrs. Petrelli had of his old life for him. Gabriel is still in disbelief that she is gone.

Grabbing his key ring, Gabriel steps out of the apartment and takes the stairs two at a time and ventures toward his usual jogging direction. His mind starts to wonder as the thinks to himself. During the run, Gabriel makes a mental list of things he needed to do: buy an iPod, buy a computer for the iPod….._screw that, I'd rather have a dog._

Gabriel returns to the apartment at six AM. If it were not for the dishes in the sink and the occasional toddler toy, the immaculate apartment could pass for a realtor's show room. Matt often jokes about his need to tidy-up the place is borderline obsessive-compulsive, but Gabriel is running out of things to occupy his mind.

After a quick shower, Gabriel hears the loud beeping of Matt's alarm clock. Wrapping a towel around his waist, Gabriel shuffles into Matt's room. Sleeping as soundly as a baby, Matt is oblivious to his alarm clock. Gabriel grabs a nerf ball and whacks it against Matt's forehead.

"Time to wake up, Matt!" Gabriel calls out. He quickly dresses in jeans and a UCLA sweatshirt over a black tee with a broken zipper. Socks in hand, Gabriel meanders to the kitchen just as Matt walks out from his room. Looking dapper in his suit and LAPD badge around his neck, Matt is still wiping the sleep from his face. "You got in late, rough case in Homicide?" Gabriel asks.

"Yeah," Matt grumbles. "C'mon, we can grab a McMuffin on the way to work."

Since Matt has a car, it has been fortunate for Gabriel to ride with him to LA. On a good day, the drive to LA from Costa Verde is only thirty minute drive. They part ways when Matt pulls into the police station. As Gabriel walks towards the Metro Express to get to the airport, he takes in the scenery of downtown LA, looking quite the opposite of the Hollywood portrayal. As he waits for the bus to arrive, he purchases the morning paper depicting a studio portrait of a little girl missing.

Reaching the airport, Gabriel flashes his employee badge and the security guard waves him through and he makes his way to the restricted area of the airport. In the crew room, Gabriel greets several coworkers before making himself a cup of coffee. On the television screen, a news report disrupts a morning show.

_An Amber Alert has been issued at 5:50pm yesterday afternoon. Seven-year old Olivia Tate has been missing since last Friday, nearly a week. Little Olivia was last seen with her father, James Tate, who is currently separated with this wife….._

"Ah, jeeze," says one of Gabriel's coworkers, shutting off the television. "Why do parents always have to put their kids in the middle of their spats?"

"Yeah," Gabriel agrees. They all clock in and head to the luggage containment. With United Airways being a popular airline, they were all kept busy, sorting luggage to the correct flight. To keep things from getting stale, they would sing to various eighties renditions of pop culture and alternate positions from scanning flight tags to loading them onto the baggage carrier to be taken to their designated flights.

At three p.m., Gabriel clocks out. Taking out his cell phone, he sees that has two text messages. The first message is from Matt, saying that Gabriel will need to take the bus back the apartment again. The second from Peter, telling him that he and Noah Bennet will be flying in the next day for the Thanksgiving dinner at the Bennet home.

The bus stop in Costa Verde could not come any sooner. Gabriel shakes off the creepy feeling the old lady with a bag full of cat food had given him, staring at him the last fifteen minutes. It is a still glorious day and Gabriel takes his time walking the half mile to his apartment complex. A car horn sounds behind him, and Gabriel sees Claire and her mother pulling up beside him.

"Hi, Gabriel," Claire says, giving him a timid wave and a smile.

"Hello, Claire," Gabriel replies, giving the pretty girl a shy smile. He peers over Claire to get a better look of the driver. "Hello, Mrs. Bennet." Mrs. Bennet, with a tight smile, returns the greeting.

"Matt got held up at station again?" Claire asks.

"Yeah," Gabriel says. "How're classes at ICDC?"

"They're good, though I am starting to wish I took Angela's offer and go to a university on the East Coast instead of staying here and going to a community college," Claire says.

Gabriel smiles, "Well, I'm sure you're mother is glad you're close to home." Gabriel gives Sandra a bright smile, but the smile falters when she gives him her trade mark, tight-lipped smile in return. _I cannot get it right with this woman!_

Sandra, having noticed Gabriel's crest-fallen expression, says, "Well, since Matt's stuck at the station, I insist you come have dinner with us. Lyle is ordering in pizza."

"Yes, thank you," he says, hopping into the backseat. "I appreciate the offer, very much so."

At the stop sign, Sandra turns in the opposite direction of Gabriel's apartment. Several blocks from the Bennets' home, in front of an extravagant home, Gabriel sees an older woman sliding out of a truck parked in the grass and promptly placing a 'for sale' sign on the windshield.

"Stop the car!" Gabriel shouts. Before Sandra could fully turn off the car, Gabriel is out and jogging towards the woman. "Hello! Ma'am?"

The woman turns around, and smiles when Gabriel walks up to the truck, with Claire and Sandra right behind him. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah, I couldn't help but notice the for sale sign. As nice as the truck is and how, _nice,_ your home is, and I must be crazy asking this but I was wondering, what is your asking price on this truck?" Gabriel inquires.

The woman places a manicured hand on her hip, "How much you got on you?"

Gabriel quirks a brow, "Twenty bucks."

The woman grabs his hand and places the keys in his palm, "Sold!"

Gabriel, Claire, and Sandra gasp, "What?!"

The woman smirks, "It's my soon-to-be ex-husband's truck. He took his lawyer ass and his twenty-five year old secretary to Tahiti and wants me to send half the profit I get off this truck to his accountant."

Ecstatic, Gabriel is oblivious to a cold chill that tingles down his spine and shakes the woman's hand and Claire and Sandra opens the driver side truck to inspect the interior. "Gabriel," Claire starts and, having taken the keys from Gabriel, begins toying with all the gadgetry, "this truck is so tricked out."

Gabriel grins, "Hey, can you pop the hood? I want to inspect the engine while it's running." Claire does so, and he inspects the insides. While never having been formally instructed on the proper workings of a car engine, Gabriel always seems to know how it works and when it is broken.

The woman is still smirking, "I hope it is to your satisfaction. I'll be right back with the title and we can finish the paperwork, it won't take long."

Gabriel crouches to his knees to inspect the front tires, and he notices something on the front bumper.

"Ma'am?" He asks, as the woman returns. "Did you meet some unfortunate animal?" Gabriel points out to a dark red spot near the underside of the bumper.

The woman, for a microscopic second, freezes. Then she says, "Oh you had to remind of that. Some mutt ran in front of me and I hit it. I pulled over to see if it was ok enough to take to the vet, but….yeah." Another cold chill runs down Gabriel's spine, but since there was a slight breeze, and they were in the shade, he dismisses it.

Gabriel nods, and signs some paper work. The woman, Lucile Thorton, hands him the title to a 2009 Chevy Colorado with a handwritten receipt and Gabriel hands her the twenty dollars. Ms. Thorton snatches the 'for sale' sign and dumps it in the trash, and enters her home without glancing back.

"Hm," Sandra comments. "Lovely woman. You follow us home; I have some Fabreeze in the garage. The interior just smells off to me."

Gabriel is blaring the radio as he follows the Bennets to their home. As soon as he gets there, Claire hops into the passenger seat and begins setting the radio stations. Gabriel, with a wide smile on his face, as he slides his hand over the gear shift, the side panel, and, finally, the steering wheel. As Gabriel grips the wheel, he gasps, as dozens of images flood his mind.

Claire, hearing him gasp, looks over, and sees Gabriel slightly seizing. "Gabriel? GABRIEL!"

In Gabriel's mind, he sees a girl, the same girl that has been on the news! _The sun is down, and Olivia is running ahead of her father. The streets of LA are empty. Olivia races across the street, yelling at her aging father to hurry. He trips, and falls into the street. He is on his knees when he is blinded by oncoming headlights. He is dead as soon as the truck crushes over his body. Olivia is screaming. The occupants of the truck race out, and it is the Thorton's! They argue, and Lucile grabs Olivia and sticks her in the extended cab of the truck while her husband lifts the body into the bed of the truck, satisfied that there weren't any noticeable blood on the street. They dump the body in a lake on the other side of town, and they drive home…._

Gabriel's eyes snap open to Claire shaking him and Sandra calling his name. Ignoring them both, Gabriel dashes out of the truck and digs for his phone and presses the speed dial to Matt's cell. Gabriel taps his foot impatiently until he hears Matt's gruff, "Yeah?"

"Matt! I know where Olivia Tate is!"

* * *

A/N: well, how 'bout that? How do you like the change of pace in the second half when it is now five months later? Good I hope.

Until then, farewell, and good night.


	4. The Fear Of Being Found

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

_Looking over at Matt, Gabriel asks, "So, when do we head out west?"_

_Gabriel wakes up a quarter till five that morning, in the apartment he now shares with Matt Parkman. Matt was able to get his job back on the LAPD, only now as a detective._

_As Gabriel walks towards the Metro Express to get to the airport, he purchases the morning paper depicting a studio portrait of a little girl missing._

_Sandra says, "Well, since Matt's stuck at the station, I insist you come have dinner with us. Lyle is ordering in pizza."_

_Gabriel sees an older woman sliding out of a truck parked in the grass and promptly placing a 'for sale' sign on the windshield._

"_What is your asking price on this truck?" Gabriel inquires._

_The woman grabs his hand and places the keys in his palm, "Sold!"_

"_Ma'am?" Gabriel asks the women, "Did you meet some unfortunate animal?"_

_The woman, for a microscopic second, freezes. Then she says, "Oh you had to remind of that. Some mutt ran in front of me and I hit it."_

_As Gabriel grips the wheel, he gasps, as dozens of images flood his mind._

"_Matt! I know where Olivia Tate is!"_

* * *

Chapter 4: The Fear Of Being Found

* * *

"Sylar's powers are starting to develop," Noah says. Angela and Nathan had abruptly "scheduled flights" to California when they received word that Gabriel had unexpectedly solved a murder and kidnapping, and now everyone, minus Gabriel, Claire, Lyle, and Sandra are now gathered around the dinner table, that day's Thanksgiving meal packaged away in the refrigerator.

"What should we consider doing now?" Nathan asks of the group. "We said that once his powers start re-manifesting, we would tell him the truth."

Matt disagrees, "Yeah, but he's refusing to acknowledge what had happened, blaming it on 'divine intervention'. He was afraid to tell me how he knew exactly where the girl was. For once, his life is going the way he wants it to be. He's worried that we'll think he's a freak. Should we wait? At least until something more concrete appears?"

"Yes," Angela says. "He won't be ready until he accepts what happened the other night."

"Sandra told me that he and Claire have been getting along rather well," Noah says. "He might feel compelled to open up to her."

Peter nods, "But how were you able to explain this to the lead investigator on the case?"

"What the media never found out was that blood was found at the scene, despite what the Thortons' thought," Matt explains. "When it was discovered that that area was the last known spot of the Tates', it was compared to James's and Olivia's DNA. The results came in this morning, and loaded with the on the spot testing of the sample on the truck that tested positive for human protein, it was enough for a search warrant based on probable cause, and we were able to find the girl in the basement six o' two this morning.

"What went in the books officially was that Gabriel called me, excited about a truck suspiciously sold for twenty bucks, and comments on the blood from a stray dog. I, desperate for a lead, took a sample and was able to get a warrant, and the rest is history. The couple confessed on the spot and agreed to a plea bargain, this case won't go to trial and Gabriel is never mentioned by name."

"Good," Nathan says, "We just need to make sure he doesn't pick up on anything that could make national headlines."

"Something tells me that is going to be easier said than done," Noah says.

Outside, Gabriel, Claire, and Sandra sit on the porch and finish up their ice cream as they observe Lyle practicing his lay-up.

"So are you missing your truck, since it was confiscated for processing?" Claire asks.

Gabriel sighs, "Yeah. If they weren't so desperate to get rid of the murder weapon, Matt wouldn't have found it so suspicious of the asking price of the truck."

"Yeah," Claire says, giving Gabriel a knowing look, which he blatantly ignores. "Matt sure is intuitive."

Sandra disagrees, "You would be amazed of the revenge tactics of a scorned wife. If it had not been for the blood, it would not be all too surprising that a rich, middle aged husband would run off with a younger woman."

Claire sighs and changes the subject, "It is too bad you didn't have the truck when I moved into my apartment."

Gabriel frowns, "You moved out? When?"

"Four months ago?" Claire shrugs. "We've all been really busy, and we never saw each other long enough for me to remember to mention it."

"It is actually the complex that is across the street from yours," Sandra says, carefully. "It would help me sleep better at night if Claire got your number."

Gabriel is touched. It is the nicest thing Mrs. Bennet had ever said to him in the last five months, until she says, "Since Matt _is_ a cop." _Of course, the number to me and Matt's apartment_. "So are you living there with friends?" Gabriel asks.

Sandra laughs lightly as Claire suddenly gets wound up. "Oh yeah! I live with three other girls, and we're sharing two bedrooms with _one_ bathroom. The girl I'm sharing a room with, Tammy, went to Costa Verde with me, wanted to get an apartment. The one we're at has the cheapest rent, and the only way we could afford it is to get a third roommate. Enter Elizabeth, Tammy's friend from another school. She's pretty cool. But two months ago, Liz's friend Violet the Violent need to a place to stay. We all thought, 'Cool, rent split four ways.' Well, she has yet to chip in a dime, and she accuses us of stealing her clothes!"

Gabriel quirks a brow, "Violet the Violent?"

Claire rolls her eyes, "That is a whole other story. But the thing is, we're all missing some of our stuff, and something is always broken and we always have to put up with Manny the Martian Maintenance Man, who is super creepy."

"What is it with you girls and these awful nicknames?" Sandra asks.

"I…I am pretty good at fixing stuff, if you need anything….fixed," Gabriel finishes, lamely.

Claire gives him a small smile, but Gabriel senses that it is a sad smile. "That'd be great. If it's ok with you, we can go now. Something's messed up with the showerhead," Claire says.

They get up and go towards Claire's Rogue, and drive to Clear Vista Apartments. Claire explains that their apartment and the other apartments on their floor having been having the same issues, nothing ever gets fixed, despite the maintenance work.

Arriving at Claire's apartment, Gabriel cannot help but wonder why a place as flashy-but affordable-as Clear Vista could suffer so much from maintenance problems. Claire's roommates were there, and as introductions were made, Gabriel had trouble stifling a laugh as he should Violet's hand.

Claire leads Gabriel to the bathroom. He looks around. "It's so…girly," he comments.

"Uh, duh," Claire says. Then she points to the shower head, "Now go. Fix. Do something. We're desperate for a decent shower."

"Yes, ma'am," Gabriel says. He turns the shower on to assess the water flow through the showerhead. Then he grabs the showerhead and gives it a good twist counter clockwise until it is off. "I see what it is," Gabriel shows Claire the inside of the showerhead. "There's a nasty calcium build-up."

"Eww gross!"

Gabriel laughs and walks out of the bathroom, "Do you have anything to scrub with? I can probably clear it enough to get a decent enough water flow for a shower. Then this weekend I can come back with some calcium remover stuff and a copper tipped pipe cleaner."

Following Claire to the kitchenette, she hands Gabriel a foil dish-scrubber. After a few minutes, Gabriel rinses the showerhead out, amazed at all the residue that pours out, and the amount that is still left. Back in the bathroom, he peers into the shower pipe. "This is odd," Gabriel looks at Claire. "There's no build up. As bad as the showerhead is, there ought to some build up in the pipe."

Claire grunts, "Just my luck."

Gabriel only shrugs, "Well, I'll let you get back to your roommates. It looks like they're enjoying a _Gossip Girl_ DVD-a-thon."

"Bleh," Claire makes a face. "I've got my own collection in my room. Would you like to see?"

"Sure."

In the bedroom that Claire shares with Tammy, Gabriel feels a sense of familiarity that he could not place. Claire has several teddy bears on her day bed, and a few more on a microfiber butterfly chair. A thirteen in television sits on a shelf at the end of her bed. There, Claire keeps her DVDs as well as a few textbooks. "_Buffy_ season four, _Sliders_ seasons one through three, fifth season of _Quantum Leap_…" Gabriel stops on one particular DVD.

"_The Princess Bride_," Claire says, taking the movie off the shelf.

"It's Elle's favorite movie," Gabriel says.

"Would you like to watch it? It's still early," Claire wants to know, even though she is already moving to insert the DVD.

Gabriel nods and moves to the chair, picking up the bears and handing them to Claire to place with the others. Leaning back, Gabriel sees the wall clock, facing them directly across the room, with its painted black on yellow face. Following his gaze, she comments, "It came with the room. Tammy hates it but I think it's cute."

The movie starts, but Gabriel does not pay attention. His gaze keeps turning to the wall clock. Something about the clock is bothering him; he has this _need_ to fix it. As The Man in Black sword fights with Inigo Montoya, Gabriel stands up.

"Gabriel?"

"This clock," Gabriel says. "It is running head, but something is making it run a second ahead, then only a half-second ahead…." He reaches to slip the clock of its hook, and upon closer inspection, he discovers something disturbing.

"Claire!" Gabriel shouts, grabbing for a metal nail file and uses it to pry off the plastic face plate.

"What are you doing?"

Further disassembling the clock, Gabriel picks up a small, square device with a short cable leading to, "A camera?" Claire exclaims in disbelief. Then a thought comes to her, "There's another one in Liz's room and in the front room."

Without another word, Claire and Gabriel dash out of the bedroom to the front room. Gabriel jumps over the sofa Liz and Tammy are sitting, startling them, and grabs the wall clock with the same smiley face. "What are you doing? You know we're not going to get our room deposit back now?" Violet all but shrieked.

Gabriel and Claire ignore her as Gabriel tears apart the clock. Picking up the small device, along with the one found in Claire's room, Gabriel looks grim, "Someone placed these cameras in the wall clocks. And I'm betting these are in working condition."

The girls are speechless. "I need to call Matt," Gabriel says, taking out his cell phone. After a few minutes, he hangs up the phone. "Your dad and Matt are on the way," Gabriel says.

"What are they going to do?" Liz asks.

"Matt's a cop, and my dad is head of security for Senator Petrelli," Claire says. "They'll know what to do."

Gabriel is silent. His gaze is unfocused, as his thumb caresses the camera lens, and a brief image of a balding, curly haired man with a rotund shape pass through his thoughts. Standing up, Gabriel asks, "Where does your maintenance guy live?"

"The floor above us, 3A," Claire tells him.

With one of the cameras in hand, Gabriel heads up a flight of stairs. Finding 3A, he knocks on the door, until the same balding man he had imagined earlier opens the door with a gruff, "What?"

"Are you Manny?" Gabriel asks.

"Who wants to know?" Manny replies. Looking over the taller man in front of him, Manny's gaze stop short at the camera in Gabriel's hand, which he pushes it in his face.

"What do you know of this in room 2D?" Gabriel growls.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Manny sputters, sweating profusely.

A cold chill travels down Gabriel's spine, "Don't. Lie. To. Me."

Instead of replying, Manny attempts to shove past Gabriel. With an almost unbridled sense of rage, Gabriel tackles the other man into the apartment, the door shutting on its own. Within the apartment, Manny manages to use massive weight to his advantage, pushing himself on top of Gabriel. With Gabriel's dominant hand pinned under him, he try to use his right hand to swipe at Manny, but he grabbed a hold on his wrist with one pudgy hand while the other is around Gabriel's neck.

The massive weight of Manny is crushing Gabriel's lungs, nearly cutting off his oxygen level to his brain. Around him, he is barely aware of Manny's lamp and various CD cases flying off the shelves. As Gabriel attempts another reach at Manny, a streak of red appears on Manny's cheek. He curses in pain and falls back, the pressure off Gabriel's chest and neck.

Suddenly rejuvenated, Gabriel lifts his head and, with his heel, aims directly for Manny's groin. He howls in pain, but before Gabriel could do anything else to Manny, the door to the apartment busts open and in walks Noah and Matt with guns drawn.

"Don't you move," Noah shouts, to whom he was shouting at, Gabriel was not sure. Matt steps into one of the bedrooms, and when he comes out, hand cuffs replaces the gun. Matt walks up to Manny and says, "Clark Mansfield, you are under arrest, for the violation of privacy and trespassing. You have the right to remain silent…."

As Matt tells Manny his rights, Noah pulls Gabriel to his feet, "You've a lot of explaining to do."

A few hours later, Gabriel is at the police station, giving Matt his statement, "It is just that, I had never felt so angry about anything before this." Matt writes some notes down, and Gabriel is left to gaze around the station, until his gaze lands on Manny. Manny had confessed to purposely sabotaging the utilities-in not just Claire's apartment, but all the rooms of female, college tenants- for the purpose of having a reason to visit the apartments just to see the girls. His set of master keys allowed him to break into the apartments and set his equipment.

_I'll cut his throat the next time I_—Gabriel's eyes widen before he could finish his own thought. _Where did that come from?_

In Washington, DC, Angela speaks on her phone, "I am having more dreams, Noah, and I have a feeling that they are going to need each other more than ever."

* * *

A/N: dundundun. You can read into that last line all you want…cuz you're prolly right.

Until next time, fare well and good night


	5. For A Pessimist I Am Optimistic

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

"_Sylar's powers are starting to develop," Noah says._

"_What should we consider doing now?" Nathan asks of the group. "We said that once his powers start re-manifesting, we would tell him the truth."_

"_Should we wait?"_

"_Yes," Angela says. "He won't be ready until he accepts what happened the other night."_

"_I live with three other girls," Claire says. "We're all missing some of our stuff, and something is always broken and we always have to put up with Manny the Martian Maintenance Man, who is super creepy."_

"_I am pretty good at fixing stuff."_

"_This clock," Gabriel says. "It is running head, but something is making it run a second ahead, then only a half-second ahead…." He reaches to slip the clock of its hook, and upon closer inspection, he discovers something disturbing._

"_Someone placed these cameras in the wall clocks. And I'm betting these are in working condition."_

"_What do you know of this in room 2D?" Gabriel growls._

"_It is just that, I had never felt so angry about anything before this."_

"_I have a feeling that they are going to need each other more than ever."_

* * *

Chapter 5: For A Pessimistic I'm Pretty Optimistic

* * *

"Dad!" Claire says, exasperated, "I am not moving back home." It is the following Wednesday, after Gabriel discovered the hidden cameras in the wall clocks, and Claire was helping Noah fill in the holes and re-grout the bathroom tiles where additional cameras were later discovered through out the apartment. "I can't keep running back home after every problem pops my way, and there've been a lot of problems popping up the last couple years. The problem of a pervy old man peeping on me is actually the least of my worries."

"But what was _he_ doing in your room?" Noah asks. He still has trouble calling Sylar by his given name. "I thought he was only supposed to be over to fix the showerhead."

Claire rolls her eyes, "Of course, you're more upset about him being here than the fact that a creepy old man is peeping on your own daughter. Dad, I've tried _so _hard to hate him for what he's done to me, to this family, and for what he's done to those people. But let's face it: Sylar is _gone_. It is only Gabriel now. I can't hate someone that doesn't exist anymore. Gabriel and Sylar are two different people."

"His powers are re-manifesting, he'll get his memories back," Noah reminds her. "What makes you so sure that he won't give all this up? Go back to being a killer?"

"Because he didn't have people like us in his life before," Claire says. "He is not going to want that life anymore, because Gabriel can be a good person."

_Across the country, a tall man wipes his hands clean of blood. Discarding his oxygen mask, he steps over a young girl-the top of her skull haphazardly sliced off-and walks away. _

In the circular drive of a pre-built housing addition, Gabriel lays in the bed of his re-acquired truck, staring at the night sky and its blanket of stars. In the distance he hears a car pull up. As foot steps approaches the truck, Matt's voice calls out, "Gabriel?"

"Don't worry, I'm still alive," Gabriel calls out.

"Saw your truck on the way back from the station," Matt says, leaning against the truck as he peers at Gabriel. "After awhile, I was worried. You've been here all this time?"

"Yeah."

"What's up, Gabe? Is it about what happened last week?"

"Yeah, I just, I don't know, want to know what's happening to me. I was so angry, I felt something inside of me that I didn't know existed before," Gabriel explains.

Matt is unsure of what to say and how to say it. "Well, you never really had anyone to care about before. Claire and her friends had been in a compromising situation, and you reacted the way any red-blooded male would."

Gabriel sighs, "I wish I could remember Elle better. I just remember the small stuff: favorite films, foods. The way she dabs lotion on her neck, and sometimes, I think I can still hear her laugh. But when I was hanging out with Claire, I hadn't thought of Elle until I saw her favorite movie; and I realized, I had been thinking of her less and less. I had let her go.

"But I can't remember ever worrying about her."

"Maybe you never had a reason to," Matt tries to reason. "C'mon, it's getting late."

"Ok."

"And give Claire a call; she's been worried about you."

Gabriel does not come back for another hour. Pulling his truck into a spot, he sees Claire sitting on the stairwell leading to the second floor, where his apartment is. "Claire?" he calls out, getting out of the truck and locking it. "How long have you been sitting out here?"

"A few hours," Claire says. "I haven't seen you in almost a week, I've been worried."

Gabriel looks down at his feet, "I'm sorry, I just had trouble clearing my head."

"What are you trying to clear your head of?" Claire wants to know.

"The anger I felt, Matt said it's nothing out of the ordinary to feel that way when someone's in that kind of situation," Gabriel says. "This anger, I felt dangerous. Like, I could have actually killed him that day."

Gabriel shakes his head, as if to rid himself of the bad thoughts inside his head. "It's late. I'll walk you back to your apartment." He reaches a hand out and helps Claire up. They slowly walk to the corner and wait for the light to change. They are silent up until Claire looks over and sees Gabriel looking at the clear sky.

"Do you know any of the names of the constellations?" Claire asks.

Gabriel shakes his head. "I know the names, but other than Orion, I can't pick them out." Once the two Heroes reach the entrance to Clear Vista, Gabriel places a hand on Claire's shoulder and he points to the Orion constellation. "What I do know of Orion is that it contains two of the brightest starts in the sky. Betelgeuse, that bright red star; and the bottom right one is Rigel. Also, one of the stars in Orion's sword is actually not star, but a nebula. True story."

"Wow," Claire says. "I'm impressed." Gabriel gives her his trade mark shy smile and they continue to the stairs that lead to her own apartment. Claire takes a few step and turns to face Gabriel so that they are eye to eye with each other. "I never got to say thank you."

Gabriel quirks a brow. "For what?"

"For finding that camera when you did," Claire tells him. "He had keys to our apartment, and he already broke in to raid our panty drawer. God knows when he would have plucked up the courage come into the apartment when one of us is home alone."

The corner of Gabriel's lips lifts to a small smile. "Like I'd let anyone hurt you."

"But not only that- you jumping over the couch they way you did and finding the cameras prompted Violet into deciding that 'this wasn't the best place for her'. So it was pretty much like killing two birds with one stone. You are so my hero, Gabe!"

He shrugs, "I do what I can." Gabriel turns to leave, but is taken by surprise when Claire suddenly hugs him.

"I know this last couple of weeks' been the most we've seen each other since we came back from DC," Claire whispers, "but I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything, ok?"

Gabriel just pats Claire on the back, awkwardly. "Sure, I will."

Claire lets go of her embrace and quietly heads up the stairs. At her door, Gabriel calls out her name. "Yeah?" Claire asks, leaning over the railing.

"There's a little carnival at Port Harbor. Do you want to go Saturday?"

"I can't, Gabe," Claire says, apologetically. "I've got a date this Saturday."

Gabriel shrugs, "Ok, maybe some other day, before they pack up."

"I'll look forward to it."

"Great," Gabriel turns to leave, but then says, "Claire? Thanks for checking up on me."

Claire smiles and walks into her apartment. Her room mates are not home yet, and she turns the television on to the local news with a news break: three murders across states linked together by scalps torn off the victims.

"Oh, no!" Claire's phone goes off, making her jump. She digs the phone out of her pocket and it is her dad, Noah.

"Are you watching the news right now?" he asks.

"Yeah, what's going on?"

"There's something you need to know," Noah says. "Sylar inherited his ability from his biological father, and I have a good feeling that is who is killing those people."

Claire starts to pace, "Back in DC, when it was just me and Sylar in the suite, he told me he met his real father, and that his father was dying. Do you know what their powers were? The people that died?"

"The last two were unknowns."

"And the first victim?" Claire prompts.

"She had the ability to heal others, like Linderman……I see where you're going," her father says. "Sylar was trying to find answers about his parents, and if he found his father, Sylar might have told him about his acquired abilities."

"Including the one he got from me; and if his father's dying…" Claire trails off.

"His father is going to come after his own son," Noah finishes, "and he's going to collect powers along the way until he finds him."

"Or if he finds me first," Claire mutters. "Or find someone with the same ability as me."

"No," Noah disagrees. "There was only one other person that the Company knew of that was naturally born with that ability, and he's dead, dead."

"So he's going try and find us, huh?"

"It looks that way," Noah concludes. "We might have some time, though. The murders are months apart, Mr. Gray doesn't seem to be as perceptive as his son at locating specials. Just, be careful, Claire-bear. Mean while, Peter and your grandmother are going to keep trying to get Suresh into letting us use Molly."

Claire stops pacing and sits down on the couch, "Molly! Of course! But why won't he let her help us?"

"Suresh never agreed that Angela's plan was going to work, and there's no way in hell he's going to get Molly involved," Noah says. "Claire? Everything's going to be fine. But you'll need to keep an eye on _him._ He's already able to prevent Matt from reading anything, and he's not even aware of his abilities."

"Ok," Claire whispers. She hangs up her phone and she heads to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Gabriel tosses around in his sleep. _He's in an enclosed, metal room. At the end of the room, he sees a blonde woman, chained to the floor. She looks up at him, and it is Elle!_ Gabriel wonders why he is dreaming of the woman he had loved chained to the floor, dirty and unkempt.

"_You!"_ Elle says, her voice full of hate and disgust. _"You murdered my father!"_

"_Yes,"_ Gabriel hears himself saying in the dream. _"I did."_

"_HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?!?!?!?!?!"_ Elle shrieks, before shooting a high voltage of electricity from her hands aimed at Gabriel, killing him.

_But now they are at the beach, and it is night. Blood is dripping from Elle's leg and Gabriel's shirt is drenched his own blood, but neither of them cares as they embrace. Elle lovingly looks up at Gabriel, and her eyes widen in fear as Gabriel raises his hand and slices Elle's forehead, killing her._

Gabriel bolts upright in his bed; he is soaked with perspiration. He gets out of bed and silently makes his way to the bathroom. At the sink, he splashes his face with cold water, as if it could wash away the dream. He reaches to turn off the faucet, but freezes it in mid-air. He brings his hand to his face and his eyes widen in horror as tiny blue sparks emit from his hand.

"What is happening to me?"

* * *

A/N: Yes, I am a Sylaire shipper. I was trying to avoid that but I was heading in that direction and didn't realize it so I caved and made Sylar's dad a secondary plot line. And a special thanks to all those who have been reviewing, they're such sweet words that keep me motivated and my over-active imagination on over drive.

So until then, farewell and good night.


	6. And The Hero Will Drown

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

"_Let's face it: Sylar is __gone__. It is only Gabriel now. I can't hate someone that doesn't exist anymore. Gabriel and Sylar are two different people."_

"_I was so angry, I felt something inside of me that I didn't know existed before," Gabriel explains._

"_He had keys to our apartment. God knows when he would have plucked up the courage come into the apartment when one of us is home alone."_

_The corner of Gabriel's lips lifts to a small smile. "Like I'd let anyone hurt you."_

"_There's something you need to know," Noah says. "Sylar inherited his ability from his biological father and I have a good feeling that is who is killing those people."_

"_His father is going to come after his own son," Noah finishes, "and he's going to collect powers along the way until he finds him."_

_Gabriel brings his hand to his face and his eyes widen in horror as tiny blue sparks emit from his hand. "What is happening to me?"_

* * *

Chapter 6: And The Hero Will Drown

* * *

Gabriel sits on a paint-chipped picnic table at Reservation Point, one of those lovers' lane areas that are surrounded by wooded area and over looks Costa Verde. It is Saturday night and he has not slept since he woke up from that nightmare on Wednesday, just a little after midnight. He looks down at his hands and spaces them six inches from each other and concentrates. Electricity sparks between his hands, a ball forming in the middle and off-trails of sparks dance on his palms like a plasma globe he once saw at a science museum. With only a thought it disappears, only for Gabriel to repeat the action several more times.

Then he places a palm on the picnic, and Gabriel closes his eyes and concentrates. Like a time-lapse film, images of people flow through his mind: Families having a barbeque, hikers resting from the long trail, teenagers making love under a clear night sky.

Gabriel opens his eyes, and rakes his fingers through his thick hair as he leans his elbows on his knees, "What is going on?" he asks of himself aloud.

Off in the distance, he hears feet pounding the dirt trail, and he sees Claire, in only a tank top and cotton shorts that barely covers anything, and tears are flowing from her eyes. She reaches the clearing and collapses to her knees, oblivious that Gabriel is there, and buries her tear-soaked face into her palms as she let out gut-wrenching cry.

"Claire?" Gabriel rushes to her, whatever worries he had moments ago left his mind. The only thing that matters is Claire. "What's wrong why are you crying?"

Instead of answering, attaches herself to Gabriel, nearly knocking him off balance as her arms fasten around his waist and she sobs into his chest. Gabriel manages to situate them both more comfortably on the ground as he patiently waits for Claire to stop her tears.

"Sorry," Claire says after a couple of minutes.

"Shhhh," Gabriel says. "You don't have to apologize, just tell me what's wrong."

"You remember that date I told you I was suppose to have tonight?" Gabriel nods and Claire continues. "Well, he called me Thursday, saying that something came up and wanted to know if we could go out Friday. So we did, and things were fine: a movie, dinner at a café, and a walk on the beach. We started making out and things got a little heated. Then I started having flashbacks from something that happened to me from when I lived in Texas, and I told him stop."

"What happened in Texas?" Gabriel wants to know.

"The star quarter back tried to rape me," Claire says as more tears start to come. "I told him to stop and he flipped. He said I was a prude, and a bitch for being a tease. Then he just got up and left me at the beach. So I called my dad, and you know what he said? He said that boys will be boys because boys are stupid."

"That sounds about right," Gabriel says, managing to get a small laugh from Claire.

"But the worst thing happened when a friend from school called me, saying she overheard him at a party telling his friends about how easy I was and how I was begging him for more and all these lies. Then she told me that he was trying to get one of his buddies to pay up for managing to get into my pants a day early," Claire buries her head into the nook of Gabriel's neck as he wraps his long arms around her shoulders to keep her from shivering.

"Tammy and Liz were out in LA clubbing…_again_. I called my dad to stay another day, but he said that I am a big girl, and that I am a better person than that jerk and that we'd talk more when he comes home again in a _couple weeks_," Claire sobs again. "Mom said what she could but she's going to give Dad an earful. I tried calling you, but you weren't answering."

"I guess I can't get reception up here," Gabriel says, unzipping his sweatshirt and places it over the two, tucking it under her chin. Claire shifts around so that her back is against his chest, and Gabriel scoots the both of them closer to a tree he could lean against. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me."

"You're here now," Claire says, finally able to stop sniffling. "That's all that matters."

"I ought to get you home," Gabriel says after a moment.

But Claire does not move, "Let's just stay here for a while."

"Ok."

"How come you weren't already married?" Claire asks. "I mean, you and Elle were only dating for like six months before the accident. But how come you weren't already married?"

Gabriel quirks a brow, "Why do you ask?"

Claire shrugs, "You're such a nice guy. How come a guy as sweet as you are isn't already married?"

"I don't know," Gabriel sighs. "I've always been really shy, anti-social, growing up. My mother complaining I never live up to my potential never helped. It didn't help that people thought of me as a huge dork, with my sweater vests over the dress shirts and my hair perfectly parted on the side. Elle was the first girl I liked that liked me back."

"What's stopping you now?"

"I'm just waiting for everything to make sense."

"Like what?" Claire asks. But when Gabriel does not answer, she sees that he is asleep and notices the bags under his eyes and his face is slightly thinner than she remembers. Feeling her move, Gabriel instinctively tightens his arms around her, pulling her back to his chest. Claire sighs, staring at the house lights that make up Costa Verde as she thinks back to one of Sylar's last words to her before literally throwing her out of the suite, "_You may eventually come to forgive me, maybe even love me."_

She is still amazed at how the man in the suite is the same man holding her right then. She is amazed at how fast she came to adore his sweet, innocent charm. The last five months she would see him, usually volunteering to help her mother and Lyle out with the yard work, but since she had moved out, she saw him in the evenings when he got off work and she had to drop something off before heading to work herself. Sandra and Lyle usually kept their distance but Claire would sometimes talk to him, mostly to see if there were any remnants of Sylar in his gaze. _He_ was never there.

But now she is becoming scared. She has been seeing Gabriel's shy smile less and less. Especially since the discovery of the hidden cameras, she can see that she is starting to lose the one person she knows would always be there, and she does not know if things will be the same when Gabriel finally knows the truth.

So Claire sheds one final tear for her sweet friend, and falls asleep in his arms.

_In a library in Texas, Samson views the micro phish containing all the news articles published in the last few years. The microfish is whizzing by, but one of his abilities is allowing him to easily pick up every single detail of each and every article. He stops when he sees an article about a cheerleader who had saved a homeless man from a train fire without a scratch, only to be found murdered with her forehead sliced. The only other witness is another cheerleader who was discovered covered in blood but without any marks. _

_Samson slides his chair over to one of the computer terminals. Automatically, the power switches on and Samson enters in every detail of the cheerleader simultaneously into every internet search engine. His search fruits success when details of the cheerleader, under a different surname, in California were briefly mentioned in a paper about a prank gone wrong. However, Samson knows better. His son's bread trails had stopped cold, so he decides to go after the cheerleader instead, even if it means scraping at the leftovers. He just needs to find the name of the high school this cheerleader attends._

* * *

A/N: eeeeh gads im such a hopeless romantic, I swear I'll get to the good stuff, its just that I saw Star Trek twice already and im still high off of the Spock/Uhura action.


	7. Girl All The Bad Guys Want

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

_He looks down at his hands and spaces them six inches from each other and concentrates. Electricity sparks between his hands, a ball forming in the middle and off-trails of sparks dance on his palms like a plasma globe he once saw at a science museum. "What is going on?" he asks of himself aloud._

_She reaches the clearing and collapses to her knees, oblivious that Gabriel is there, and buries her tear-soaked face into her palms as she let out gut-wrenching cry. "Claire?" Gabriel rushes to her, whatever worries he had moments ago left his mind. The only thing that matters is Claire. "What's wrong why are you crying?"_

"_You remember that date I told you I was suppose to have tonight? He said I was a prude, and a bitch for being a tease. Then he just got up and left me at the beach. So I called my dad that we'd talk more when he comes home again in a __couple weeks__."_

"_I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me."_

"_You're here now," Claire says, finally able to stop sniffling. "That's all that matters."_

_She has been seeing Gabriel's shy smile less and less. Especially since the discovery of the hidden cameras, she can see that she is starting to lose the one person she knows would always be there, and she does not know if things will be the same when Gabriel finally knows the truth._

_**His son's bread trails had stopped cold, so he decides to go after the cheerleader instead, even if it means scraping at the leftovers.**_

* * *

Chapter 7: Girl All The Bad Guys Want

* * *

"Mohinder," Peter says, "we can't do this alone. We need Molly's help in trying to locate Gabriel's father."

"You're insane to believe that Sylar is truly reformed in the first place," Mohinder spats, standing in front of Peter in his New York apartment. "What makes you believe that he won't turn on you the minute he realizes you've all been manipulating him?"

"You know what? We don't. We can only hope that by giving him a clean slate….I've seen him myself in the future, he was different. He was a good guy, and he can be one now if we give him a reason to," Peter says, trying to reason with Mohinder.

"Always the eternal optimist," Mohinder says. "He killed my father! Murdered Molly's parents and then tried going after her, a little girl!"

"Don't forget that it was your father that introduced the idea of people with abilities," Peter reminds him. "Gabriel was starved for attention and anything that would make him stand out of the crowd and your father just spoon fed him the necessary information."

Mohinder's eyes narrows with rage. He steps toward Peter, and with his strength, he pins Peter against the wall, his feet hovering inches above the ground. "Don't you _dare_ blame my father for this," Mohinder rages.

"I'm only pointing out the truth," Peter says. "But can you say you're not so different? When you injected yourself with the formula? What I'm trying to say is that we all have that part of us that is itching to get out. But Gabriel never had that support system to get out of it, not like us."

Mohinder finally lets peter go, but his gaze is still full of disgust. "I'm sorry, Peter," Mohinder says. "But it appears that I am not as forgiving, or forgetful, as you. I cannot help you, and will not let Molly become involved." Then Mohinder snorts, "You don't even know what this man looks like. You barely know where to start."

With his chin up, Peter just walks toward the window to the fire escape. "Fine," he says. "You've made your choice. But people are dying, and Gabriel may be the only person that can stop him. Are you really going to sacrifice those people just to keep your pride?"

When Peter does not get a response, he steps out onto the fire escape and rockets towards the sky, speeding back to DC.

When Peter reaches Nathan's home, he finds that his mother and Noah Bennet are there also. They look up at him expectantly. Peter shakes his head, "It's a no go. What do we do now?"

"We will have to act quickly," Angela says. "I dreamt that he is going after Claire now, but I cannot see what he looks like. I fear that he senses that someone is on to him."

Nathan picks up a stack of files and hands them to Peter. "Whatever Sylar has done, it's nothing compared to his father. I was able to find past murder investigations, and Peter, this guy has been active for over thirty years. There had been a decade with the most activity, at least twenty vics, and practical radio silence for the last twenty years with only five vics during that time."

"And those are the ones that we know of, Peter," Noah says. "The actual number could reach into the hundreds just from people that could've gotten in his way."

Peter looks up from the files he was reading over. "Why haven't I heard of this before? As something as big this, it should've been all over the news," Peter says.

"Each murder was done differently, and spread all over the country," Angela says. "At the time, there was not much linking each case together, particularly since there was not a lot communication between the states. The only commonality is that there was no trace evidence left behind by Mr. Gray."

"But you're sure it's him though?" Peter asks.

"I'm certain of it."

"Now we have to trust our lives with Sylar," Noah says, with a hint of loathing in his voice.

Nathan looks over at Noah, picking up on the feeling. "Yes, we do. He is the strongest player we have on our team, and Peter will be able to do what Sylar can do when the time comes. Those are two reasons right there we should be grateful to have on our side. The last time I checked, he's not Sylar anymore." Nathan cocks his head a little. "Are you still upset about the fact that Claire is friends with the one person she should hate the most?"

"Befriending him will only hurt her in the end," Noah says. "He's a killer, and he'll go back to being a killer."

Angela looks at him sadly, "Noah, let it go. Holding on to your hate will only make you bitter."

"Gabriel and Claire," Peter starts, "it is more than what we want for Claire. We need to build up a foundation now while we still can. I'm thinking of Claire's future here. We are not going to live forever, but Gabriel will. He's not Sylar anymore, even when he gets his memory back, he will have a life worth living as Gabriel."

"He will have someone like him around," Nathan explains to Noah. "Thinking long term, he can have someone like Claire with him to keep him grounded. When we all die, what makes you think he won't revert back to Sylar, without Claire in his life?" Nathan looks over at his brother, "He may never be my most favorite person in the world, but Peter believes in him, and so do I."

The sun is rising, and Gabriel wakes before Claire does. He looks down at the sleeping figure, lying slightly on top of him with an arm wrapped around his waist. Gabriel smiles and he tucks a blonde curl behind Claire's ear. "Hey sleepy head," Gabriel whispers as Claire wakes up from Gabriel's movements.

"Hey," Claire says, sitting up to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"We fell asleep."

"Yeah, you fell asleep and I didn't want to wake you. So….I stayed with you."

Gabriel cocks his head, "Why didn't you wake me up? You're room mates' are probably worried about you by now."

Claire shrugs, "Probably. But you just seem tired. Are you ok, Gabriel?"

Smiling a genuine smile, he says, "Sitting here now, I never could have been better." Gabriel is telling the truth. Gabriel notices that what ever worry he was stressing the night before left, and all that he has on his mind is the pretty girl in his lap wearing his over-sized sweatshirt.

"You've been a good friend, Claire," Gabriel says. "Don't let anyone tell you differently. Promise me that?"

Claire nods, "You've been a good friend, too, Gabe. The best friend I have now."

Gabriel snorts, "I feel like a dirty old man. What does your mother think about you hanging out with guys twelve years your senior?" _Why else would dislike me as much as she does?_

"Eh…."

Gabriel sighs, "I get it. Let's get you home."

Claire stands up, and helps Gabriel up to his feet. She hands back the large sweatshirt but Gabriel only opens it up, letting Claire slip it back on. As Gabriel pulls the truck into main traffic with Claire in the passenger seat, she slips a hand into Gabriel's and interlock their fingers together. Gabriel, careful not to veer off the road from surprise, quickly shoots Claire a questioning look. But Claire continues looking out the window, as the familiar scenery becomes her apartment complex.

"Gabriel," Claire says as he shuts off the engine, "why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

Gabriel only shrugs, "What makes you think anything is wrong?"

"You've been a bit distracted, and no one goes to The Point at night by themselves if nothing is wrong."

"You wouldn't understand," Gabriel pleads.

"Try me."

"I can't," Gabriel says through clenched teeth, hands gripping the steering wheel. "Things are finally starting to look up; even while Elle was around, things are finally going my way, and I _will not_ burden you with my problems and chase you away."

Claire frowns, "You really think that? Gabe, I poured my heart and soul to you because you are my friend and I _know_ you would always be there for me. I will not sit around and not return the favor."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Gabriel asks.

"We've got all the time in the world, Gabe."

"You are starting to sound like Matt," he comments. "Hovering over my shoulder, always asking if everything is ok…"

"That's because he's your friend too," Claire says. She sighs, knowing that she is not going to get anything out of him right then. "Look, why don't you come up? I can make some breakfast, and we can go to Port Harbor. I still want to go to the carnival."

Gabriel relents and gives Claire tired smile, "Whatever you want."

Inside the apartment, they tip toe towards the kitchen. Claire peaks into the bedrooms before they could say anything, "They're both sleeping, and with all the partying they do, they probably had snuck in too much alcohol to notice I wasn't home."

"Nice," Gabriel comments.

Claire prepares the pancake mix as Gabriel reaches into the fridge and pulls out milk, eggs, yogurt and some fruit. Scrambling some eggs, Gabriel attempts small talk, guilty about his earlier behavior, "So….what's your dad up to? Your biological dad, I meant."

Claire shrugs, "Something about revising a bill he had proposed to the president earlier this year."

"That sounds……fun," Gabriel replies.

"Yup."

"I assume Peter is enjoying living in DC now," Gabriel says. "He seems close to his brother."

"They sure are."

"And Angela?" Gabriel says, taking out plates and Claire loads them with pancakes, eggs, and fruit and yogurt. "She is living in DC now too, right?"

"She sure is."

Gabriel rolls his eyes, "Ok, I get it! You're mad." He combs his fingers through his hair. "You win."

"I what?"

"You win, Claire. You want to know what's going on, you got it! Something----" but Gabriel is cut off when Claire's room mates stumble in.

"Where's the fire you two?" Tammy asks, wiping the drool from her mouth.

Liz, however, picks up a fork and stabs at a clump of scrambled egg from the stove, "Yum, this is the shit, right here."

Claire shakes her head, "Its fine you guys." She looks over at Gabriel. "I'm going to get dressed, and we can go hang out at the beach until the carnival opens up." Claire brushes past Tammy and Liz to her room and shuts the door. Tammy and Liz look at the closed door, back to Gabriel, and then to each other. "Awkward!" they sang before going into Liz's room and shut the door.

At Port Harbor, Gabriel and Claire walk along the board walk, silently as Claire tears pieces of her cotton candy and sticks the fluff into her mouth. It has been several hours since Gabriel was about to confess his worries to Claire and then interrupted by her room mates, but neither are able to restart the conversation.

When she finishes the cotton candy, Claire leads Gabriel to a railing that overlooks the beach and the Pacific. Leaning against a wooden post, she sees a nail sticking out. Claire takes in a deep breath and takes Gabriel's hand into her own.

"Claire?" Gabriel asks, unsure where she is going with this.

"Gabriel," she begins, "when did your powers start manifesting?"

Gabriel looks at her sharply, brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"You can do things. You're special," Claire says, placing her other hand on the exposed nail and runs her hand over it, creating a large gash across her palm. Gabriel immediately grabs her bloodied hand, and watches it heal right before his eyes. He looks at her, waiting for her answer.

"I know this because I'm special, too. There's something you need to know, and it's been breaking my heart having to keep this from you."

* * *

A/N: it's a good thing im not an episode writer cuz all I can focus on is Sylaire, even when im trying to involve other characters. Oie vey.

Trust Claire to jump into this w/o talking to the others before telling him the truth.

Until next time, fare well and good night.


	8. Angels With Dirty Faces

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

_Claire shrugs, "Probably. But you just seem tired. Are you ok, Gabriel?"_

_Smiling a genuine smile, he says, "Sitting here now, I never could have been better." Gabriel is telling the truth. Gabriel notices that what ever worry he was stressing the night before left, and all that he has on his mind is the pretty girl in his lap wearing his over-sized sweatshirt._

"_Gabriel," Claire says as he shuts off the engine, "why won't you tell me what's wrong?"_

"_I can't," Gabriel says through clenched teeth, hands gripping the steering wheel. "Things are finally starting to look up; even while Elle was around, things are finally going my way, and I __will not__ burden you with my problems and chase you away."_

"_Gabriel," she begins, "when did your powers start manifesting?"_

_Gabriel looks at her sharply, brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"_

"_You can do things. You're special," Claire says, placing her other hand on the exposed nail and runs her hand over it, creating a large gash across her palm. Gabriel immediately grabs her bloodied hand, and watches it heal right before his eyes. He looks at her, waiting for her answer._

"_I know this because I'm special, too. There's something you need to know, and it's been breaking my heart having to keep this from you."_

* * *

Chapter 8: Angels With Dirty Faces

* * *

Gabriel stares at the girl in front of him in disbelief, "What have you been keeping from me?"

Claire looks around them and leads Gabriel onto the beach, away from the crowds gathering on the board walk. She takes him to a stony wall that boarder along the waters. There is a large cavity inside the stone, a grotto.

Taking a seat on a mossy rock, Gabriel sits there expectantly, but he is unable to look at Claire.

She takes a deep breath, "I suddenly have no idea where to start."

"You can start by telling the truth," Gabriel says, his voice lacking the affectionate connotation he had always reserved especially for her. "How I seem to be 'special' and how you seem to know all about it."

"Gabriel," Claire says, her throat nearly constricting, "you were never in a car accident."

"Ok."

"You….you took the abilities you have from people," Claire says. "People are dead because of it."

"Are you saying I'm a killer, and I suddenly forgot?" Gabriel asks, looking at Claire, all sorts of emotion playing out in his eyes.

"You have the ability to detect when people are lying," Claire tells him, trying not to lose control of her own emotions. "Do you think I am lying?" A certain realization dawns in Gabriel's eyes, and he looks away, "I want to," he replies.

"I also know you have the ability to know the history of any object you touch," Claire holds out her hand. "Including people."

Gabriel looks at her out stretched hand, and at Claire. He takes her hand and concentrates.

_He opens his eyes and he finds himself in a locker room with various homecoming decorations around him. Gabriel realizes that Claire is standing there with him in the vision-esque history lesson. "_Where are we_?"_

"Odessa, Texas. This is pretty much where we first met_." The locker room is dark, and he hears screaming. With Claire in hand, Gabriel investigates and sees a second Claire, and another girl pinned up against the lockers by…HIM!_

"NO_!" But the connection with Claire prevents him from making it stop, making them both relive that night as the other Claire jumps the man and he throws her off with paranormal strength. The other girl bleeds to death as Gabriel watches himself stare at the other Claire, broken bones healing in front of his eyes._

_The scene changes and Gabriel is seeing the other Claire in her room at the Bennet home. She opens her door and he sees himself at the door. He comes in and Claire hits him with a trophy. He some how is able to cut the electricity and is stalking Claire in her own kitchen. He taunts her, she stabs him, he throws her against the wall and a cut slices her forehead. He probes her brain while she is still alive and conscious. Now they are in a building. Claire is with Angela, her father, and another blonde woman, and he hears his voice over the intercom. Claire stabs a tall man in the back of the head. Now they are in a suite, Gabriel is telekinetically controlling Claire's movements. She looks at him with disgust and hate, and he propositions her._

"STOOOOOOOP!" Gabriel all but shrieks as he rips his hand away from Claire's grasp. "Stop it! Just….stop!"

"Gabriel, please!"

But Gabriel does not listen to her please. He gets up to face her, "You knew! All this time, you all knew! My life….the last six months….a lie? Why?"

"You want to know why? Fine. We knew we couldn't kill you. You were too strong; we didn't know how long the tranquilizer would last, so Angela came up with a plan. She knew it was the Company's fault for you becoming the person you were, so she gave you a new life, a way to start over. She believed that if you had a life worth living for you wouldn't go back to being Sylar."

"You made me believe I actually had something," Gabriel says, "only to yank the rug from under my feet. All this, it's a lie. I remember _everything_."

"Then you must understand why we did it then," Claire says. "You had told us how empty your life had been, so we thought we could give you a new one. It was the only way to humanize you."

Gabriel laughs, humorlessly, "Humanize, that's a good one."

"Peter went to a future where he saw you as a good person and a good father. Angela had a vision where she still saw you as a hero," Claire looks at him. "I believe in you. Peter told me that you described your power as something like a hunger."

"Yes."

"Do you have it now?"

"Yes."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"_Nothing_," Gabriel says, a new realization coming to his eyes. "All my memories are back now, but it doesn't feel real. It's like it was all a bad dream….." Gabriel steps away from the grotto and retches into a near by bush. When he returns, Claire reaches for his hand and pulls him back next to her.

"Gabriel," Claire begins, "we didn't create this façade to be cruel, nor to be manipulative. It was the only way to show you that you don't need powers to be important. You were able to show people who you really are, before becoming Sylar. I like that person, and I would deeply miss that person if he were to disappear."

Gabriel remains silent. He walks towards the edge of the grotto, the ocean lapping at his feet as he stares into the ocean with a clear sky above it. "I understand now."

Claire gets up and walks toward Gabriel. She turns him around and she wraps her arms around his slim waist, her head nested perfectly under his chin. But Gabriel's arms remain limp at his side. "You were so scared," he says, voice numb. "How can you even touch me?"

"Because I have faith in you," Claire says. "That person doesn't exist anymore, and maybe I'm being selfish when I don't want to be alone for all eternity. We can't die."

"Only because I had violated you in the worst kind of way," Gabriel spats, tears are flowing down his cheeks. "People are dead because I am an impotent fool, regardless of all the powers I had collected."

"Gabriel, listen to yourself!" Claire demands. "You are not Sylar. You are Gabriel. Sylar is just bad dream we'll never think about again."

"What makes you think I am not Sylar now?" Gabriel wants to know.

"Well," she starts, cupping Gabriel's face in her hands and bringing it closer to hers, "if you were still Sylar, I wouldn't do this," and she kisses him. Claire's eyes are closed and she misses the shock in Gabriel's expression. But he is easily swayed, and he parts his lips to deepen the kiss. Every time their tongues touch, an electric shock shoots down his spine, and he is not sure if it is a metaphorical shock or his ability kicking in.

But it is Claire's euphoric moans that bring reality crashing down around Gabriel. "Claire," he says, regretfully pulling away, only too aware of the euphoria in his jeans. "I can't do this. You may be able to forgive and forget, but I can't. I was finally coming to accept the person I was, but then to find out it was not real. I know you guys had the best intentions, but I can't pretend what really happened never happened."

"Ok then," she says, stepping away from Gabriel and tucking her hands into her back pocket. "What do you want to do?"

"I think it is best if we stop hanging around each other for a while," he says. "I cannot rid myself of you looking at me, full of hate and disgust."

"Wait!" Claire cries, a hitch in her voice.

"We have all the time in the world," he tells her. "Just please allow me a moment to myself to figure things out."

Back at Claire's apartment complex, Gabriel tears out of the parking lot before Claire reaches the door. A fresh torrent of emotions threatens to make their presence know, and Claire goes into her home and leans against the closed door. When Tammy and Liz look up from their text books to see their friend sobbing uncontrollably, they immediately rush her to the couch.

"What happened?" they both want to know.

Claire knows that she can never tell her friends about her abilities and her connection to others with abilities and a forbidden relationship with a killer. So she tells them the only truth they can comprehend. "I kissed Gabriel at the carnival today. But he doesn't want me."

* * *

A/N: Im feeling severely disappointed with this chapter. I had a whole other scenario, but I just couldn't put it to words.


	9. Do You Miss Me?

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

"_You can start by telling the truth," Gabriel says, his voice lacking the affectionate connotation he had always reserved especially for her. "How I seem to be 'special' and how you seem to know all about it."_

"_You….you took the abilities you have from people," Claire says._

"_You have the ability to detect when people are lying," Claire tells him, trying not to lose control of her own emotions. "I also know you have the ability to know the history of any object you touch," Claire holds out her hand. "Including people."_

"_You knew! All this time, you all knew! My life….the last six months….a lie? Why?"_

"_You made me believe I actually had something," Gabriel says, "only to yank the rug from under my feet. All this, it's a lie. I remember __everything__."_

"_It was the only way to humanize you."_

"_What makes you think I am not Sylar now?" Gabriel wants to know._

"_I think it is best if we stop hanging around each other for a while," he says. "I cannot rid myself of you looking at me, full of hate and disgust."_

* * *

Chapter 9: Do You Miss Me?

* * *

Gabriel sits on the couch of his dark apartment, staring at the blank television screen. He takes a swig of scotch straight from the bottle, painfully aware that the alcohol will not have any effects on him. Catching his reflection on the television, Gabriel throws the bottle at the TV, shattering both the bottle and the screen. Gabriel gets up from where he was sitting and heads toward the kitchen. Grabbing a steak knife from the sink, he slinks down the counter and onto the floor.

Matt returns to the apartment to find a curious state of affairs. The blinds and curtains are pulled shut, blocking any remaining sunlight, the television is smashed, and the mantle clock that was above the TV is on the floor on the other side of the room, in pieces. The only light source is from the kitchen, where found Gabriel, twiddling a knife.

"When were you ever planning on telling me the truth? When were you going to tell me that I spent the last two years, not in a coma, but stealing abilities from people I had murdered?" Gabriel asks, his voice hollow. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Would you have believed us when you woke up? I made it so that you were unaware of your abilities, so they lay dormant, inactive. We were going to wait till they started re-manifesting, when you were ready to accept what was happening as the truth," Matt sighs. "So we just gave you a chance at a normal life, something we've all been striving for lately.

"It may not have been the best decision, but it was the only decision we could have made."

"Why didn't you kill me? You had the opportunity."

"Nobody had the heart to do so."

"Can you make the memories go away?" Gabriel pleads. "Can you make the guilt stop?"

"I wish I could…"

"That's a lie."

Matt sighs. "Fine. Despite what you think, you're a better person now than you ever were. You are not a killer. You have your memories back, but you have something that you didn't have before: people who care about you, people you care about in return, and a life worth living and having."

"Tell me why I shouldn't turn myself in."

"And tell them what?" Matt wants to know. "Nathan spent months trying to clean up the mess he made rounding people like us. People will ask for genocide. They'll go after Claire."

At the mention of Claire's name, Gabriel looks over at Matt. Matt gives him a look, "I didn't have to be a mind reader to know what's going on between the two of you, even if you guys didn't see it yourselves. But there is something bigger than this coming. We can't do it without you."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you been watching the news about the recent murders the last few months?"

Comprehension dawns on Gabriel's face, "My father?"

Matt nods, "Angela is sure of it. One of the recent murders was of a healer, not like the ability you and Claire have, but can heal any living organism."

Gabriel looks at Matt, "He was dying. He could have had that person heal him of the cancer before taking the ability. When I last saw him, he tried to take the ability I took from Claire. He's coming after me."

"And anyone he meets along the way," Matt tells him. "But Angela is having trouble pin pointing places he's heading to, and she fears that he senses that we are tracking him….and that he's now going after Claire.

"He's been at this for thirty years, Gabe, and Peter has to touch the other person in order to do what they do. We need you. Can you be the one we need? Otherwise, we are all dead."

Gabriel stands up, "I….I don't know. I need to think." He heads toward the door, but Matt grabs his arm.

"Gabe, you are not alone. Remember that."

Gabriel nods, "Matt? Thank you. For everything, even when I do not deserve the kindness you have all bestowed me. Or the forgiveness. Now I need to make things right."

Gabriel gives Matt one final look before grabbing his keys. Starting the truck, he pulls into the parking lot of Claire's apartment complex. After a quick scan of the lot, Gabriel sees that the Rogue is not there. Mentally calculating Claire's behavioral characteristics, he heads to Reservation Point, where he is certain Claire is. He drives the truck as far as he could before spotting the Rogue. Gabriel jogs up the trail, and he finds Claire where he knew she would be: the same spot as the night before where she slept in his arms.

She is leaning against the same tree, looking at the night sky, with only the moon and the pale trail lamps giving any light. Claire tries to remain oblivious to Gabriel's approaching steps, but relents to look at him.

"What's wrong, Claire?"

"What makes you think anything is wrong?"

Gabriel shrugs, "Well, someone very special to me said that no one comes to The Point by themselves at night if nothing is wrong."

Claire only lets out a small chuckle, but does not respond.

"I'm sorry, Claire," Gabriel says. "I shouldn't have treated you the way I did. This is a unique situation for all of us. There was no right way to go about it and I'm sorry. I just feel so lost, and I don't know what to do."

Claire scoots over and Gabriel takes it as an invitation to sit next to her, "What else are you feeling."

Gabriel only shrugs, "I felt betrayed, disgusted, confused…..but I never felt angry; which only makes me feel even more confused. When dealing with the maintenance guy I was confused about being so angry, but now I am confused as to why I am not angry over this."

"I don't know either."

"Matt told me about my dad," Gabriel says. "I know that he is coming after me, and that he'll most likely go after you. You would pose as less of a threat than me. Since I've been out of commission the last six months….."

Claire finishes, "He probably is coming after me. Do you think he figured out where we are?"

"He would only know we're in California."

"How would he know that already?"

Claire looks at him, and sees that his face is guilt ridden, "Because I told him you lived in California, but not where. It'll be a matter of time. We have to get you out of here, as far away as we can get you…"

She cuts him off, "No! I cannot leave my family! Your father will just kill them. We have to stay. After I left high school to get my GED, my dad made sure any student information the school had on me is kept private, so that is one obstacle that guy can't get over."

"He already has an arsenal of abilities, more than I have collected already. I doubt that would be too much of a problem."

"I DON'T CARE!!! I refuse to be the victim this time around. I. Am. Not. Going. To. Run," Claire stresses.

Gabriel flinches at the slight jab of a reminder of what he had done to her. "I'm not strong enough to…." Gabriel does not finish the sentence.

Claire combs a hand through Gabriel's thick hair, "You're not going to be alone in this."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Well, since Matt will have no choice but to let my dad and the others know about you having all your memories back, we'll all come together to go over what we know, which means all that you know of him," Claire says. "You would know how he thinks."

"Unfortunately."

"But until then," Claire says, moving herself onto Gabriel's lap, "it's just us. What do you propose to do with that?"

Gabriel looks at her longingly, however, "I can't. There are too many things going on, too many things I had done. How can you want me? After what I had done to you, how could you?"

"That wasn't you, that was Sylar. Sylar doesn't exist!" Claire says, firmly.

"How can you be so sure?" Gabriel exasperates. "You have no idea easy it is, just to give in to the need of _knowing_. How this hunger to drives me to kill, to know how people's abilities work, what makes them tick. They say knowledge is power, they had no idea how stupid they were."

"Do you feel like giving into this hunger?"

"I feel like throwing myself off a cliff."

"Don't you see? This new life you made for yourself, you don't have to be that person anymore. I like this person in front of me, I want to be with this person," Claire takes Gabriel's hands into her own. "Please don't leave me, don't let Sylar take over you."

"I don't know what's real anymore."

"Then lets just take one day at a time," Claire says, leaning her forehead against Gabriel's. Claire allows her lips to hover directly over his, and is about to lean in for the kill when Gabriel speaks.

"You have class in the morning."

Claire groans and slumps her head on Gabriel's shoulder. "You suck."

Gabriel allows himself a low chuckle that reverberated throughout his chest.

* * *

A/N: I was about to give up on his chapter. I was halfway through the chapter when the power went out and I DIDN'T SAVE IT THE DARN THING! Damn thee mother nature!

Anywho, sorry for anyone that thought the last chappy seemed rushed, but I simply do not have the patients to drag things out.


	10. You're Gonna Go Far, Kid

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

"_When were you ever planning on telling me the truth? When were you going to tell me that I spent the last two years, not in a coma, but stealing abilities from people I had murdered?" Gabriel asks, his voice hollow. "Were you ever going to tell me?"_

"_It may not have been the best decision, but it was the only decision we could have made."_

"_Nathan spent months trying to clean up the mess he made rounding people like us. People will ask for genocide."_

"_He's been at this for thirty years, Gabe, and Peter has to touch the other person in order to do what they do. We need you. Can you be the one we need? Otherwise, we are all dead."_

_Claire finishes, "He probably is coming after me. Do you think he figured out where we are?"_

"_He would only know we're in California. We have to get you out of here. "_

"_I. Am. Not. Going. To. Run," Claire stresses._

* * *

Chapter 10: You're Gonna Go Far, Kid

* * *

It is an awkward night in the Bennet home. In the den, Claire, Peter, Nathan, Matt, Angela, and Noah convene about recent events with Gabriel watching from afar in the corner of the room.

"So," Claire begins, "what do we do now?"

"What ever Mr. Gray can do," Angela says, "he is very strong and very capable. He is some how blocking my seeing him in my dreams…." Her voice is soft, as if she has failed them. "I do not think it would matter if Molly could help us or not."

"Besides knowing he's somewhere in California," Noah says, shooting Gabriel an accusatory glance, "where does that leave us?"

"What about the anonymous tip lines?" Peter wants to know. "Couldn't Gabriel put in a description of his father?"

"No," Gabriel speaks up. "What would happen if someone were to recognize him? If the authorities go after him, they will die." His words echo that of Peter's six months earlier, when he and Nathan were trying to convince Sullivan to let them into the suite Sylar and Claire were occupying. "I still stand by my words that we all should get as far away from here as we can."

"What about the people left behind?" Claire asks. "Who is going to stop him if we run away? That's what we'd be doing. Running away."

Gabriel releases a humorless chuckle, "And why do I have this feeling that the weight of the world is on my shoulders?"

"You are your father's son," Noah says. "A killer, just like him. You ought to be able to calculate his moves." He stands up and walks up to Gabriel, ignoring the astonished and cautious stares from the others. "Do you really think, if this ends well, you can continue living a normal life, just because you have gained some 'new' perspectives about yourself?"

"Noah," Angela warns, "now is not the time for this."

But Gabriel straightens is posture and, chin up, glares at Noah in return, "My _father_'s actions were totally on his own accord. I, on the other hand, was only pathetic watchmaker easily swayed into the delusions of grandeur. To be easily manipulated by the man in front of me, just to see what made me tick. So yeah, I may be my father's son, but I never had a chance. _You_ never gave me a chance! However, when something strikes just a wee bit too close to home, you cannot bare to take _any_ responsibility in the fact that it was _you_ that made me a monster!" During Gabriel's tirade, he starts shouting, and towards the end of the rant, he all but throws himself onto Noah, with Peter and Nathan holding Gabriel back, and Matt pulling Noah back from a similar scenario. "You could've just left me alone that day."

"Relax, Gabe!" Nathan says. "Breath!"

Gabriel violently shakes of Peter and Nathan and turns towards the door to the den. Exerting his frustrations, he punches the wall, leaving a large, gaping hole before heading out. The sliding door to the back yard is heard opening, and again as it is slammed shut. Everyone turns to look at Noah.

"My, God, Dad!" Claire exclaims. "What is wrong with you? Why do you have to make everything about you?!"

"Claire, listen to me," Noah tries to start, but Claire refuses.

"Stop it, just stop!" she commands. "Don't you dare say that you're looking out for me, because Gabe's right: if you and Elle had just left him alone, abandon the assignment, he would have been okay? Heartbroken, perhaps, but okay. He's been suffering enough since the memories came back."

"Noah," Matt speaks up for the first time, "we cannot afford to hold on to personal vendettas. Let it _go_."

"Sweetie, please," Noah tries again.

"Get out," Claire says through clenched teeth.

"What?"

"I said, 'get out'. Get out get out GET OUT!" Claire shoves past her adoptive father and sprints upstairs to her old bedroom.

Noah is at a loss for words. Outside of the den, he sees Sandra staring right back at him, tight-lipped, before following her daughter. He hears Peter muttering something to his mother and brother and follows Sandra. He looks at Matt and Angela, as Nathan heads outside to the back yard. "I'll be at the hotel. Call me as soon as we have more information," he says, before leaving.

Outside, Gabriel sits on a lawn chair while casually observing the horizon as children can be seen playing in their own yards. In his peripheral vision, he sees Nathan coming through the sliding door, and pulling a lawn chair out and sits down right next to him.

"A watchmaker, eh?" Nathan asks. "I never knew that."

Gabriel looks over at Nathan before returning his attention to the distance in front of him. "What do you want?"

Nathan shrugs, "Just checking up on ya."

"Why do you care?"

"I'll straight up admit that you're not exactly my number one favorite person in the world," Nathan says, "on the account that you did kill me. But, I'd be preaching to the choir here if I were to make any comments about character. I was willing to sacrifice Peter blowing up New York City, just to bring the nation together and become president."

Gabriel looks at Nathan with a quirked brow. Nathan continues, "But it was Claire who told me that the future is not written in stone. We write our own destinies, Gabriel, I think it's time that you write yours."

Gabriel just says nothing, and he sees Nathan producing two _Budweiser's_ he had not noticed before. Gabriel accepts the offered beer, but does not take a sip. As Nathan takes a swig of his beer, he asks, "How come you're still here? Thought you'd've left."

Gabriel shrugs, "My keys are still in my jacket pocket in the foyer. It would defeat the purpose of a dramatic exit if I came back inside to get them."

Nathan lets out a humored chuckle as he takes another swig.

Around eleven p.m., Gabriel lies wide awake in his bed. Ever since the dream he had of recounting the events with Elle, he has been suffering from insomnia for a week. The only exception is of the night he shared with Claire at Reservation Point had he gotten any sleep. Thinking of Claire, he remembers the shouting match she had with her father. Grimly, Gabriel thinks to himself that there would have been a time when he would have reveled in the gap of the father's and daughter's relationship. _Is that still me?_ He thinks to himself. _What is to become of me if and when this is all over?_

Gabriel is startled when his cell phone goes off. The particular ring tone indicates a text message from Claire, as she had taken his phone months earlier and set it to play the instrumental version of _Hey Mickey_ whenever she texts him. His eyes widen as he reads the message. _Im outside ur apt. lemme in!_

Gabriel throws off his covers and silently shuffles to the front door. He opens the door and sees Claire, still dressed in the attire she had on earlier that day. "Claire, what are you doing here?"

Claire is slightly taken aback when Gabriel answers the door in only his boxers. "I, uh," she stammers as she follows Gabriel to his bedroom. "I had to see you."

She is taken aback again when she notices how gaunt Gabriel looks, "Gabriel? You look like hell," she voices her concern.

Self-consciously, Gabriel folds his arms over his chest, "Yeah, well, I haven't slept in a week. That night at The Point hardly counts, as I feel like total shit." He throws himself onto his double bed and stares at the bare ceiling. He feels the bed dip as Claire slides next to him. Gabriel automatically inches away from her. Despite their unspoken admittance of attraction for each other, he could not touch her.

Claire flinches, hurt, "Gabriel…." She leans closer to him, reaching out to turn his face toward hers. Leaning her forehead on his, she whispers, "It's ok, I'm still here."

"Will there ever be a time when you can forgive me?" Gabriel whispers back.

With wide eyes, Claire pulls back, "Gabriel, I…I…I forgave you a long time ago!" She wraps her arms around Gabriel's neck and cradles his face above her breasts. "I should have told you sooner, but I had already forgiven you. For everything."

Gabriel pulls away, and he sees a tear slowly falling down Claire's cheek. He places a large masculine hand behind Claire's head, and draws her closer as he places a soft kiss on her lips. After a moment, a slightly dazed and confused Gabriel wonders why Claire is pulling away. Then his eyes widen as he sees what Claire is doing.

"Claire, what are you doing?" he asks as she slips off the black v-neck sweater, revealing a purple camisole top and begins pulling off her shoes.

She begins the process of unzipping her jeans, "You haven't been sleeping and you look like hell." Claire then pulls Gabriel off the bed and pulls back the covers before crawling in herself. She looks at Gabriel expectantly, "So I'm going to make sure you finally get some rest."

Hesitantly, Gabriel slides into bed next to her and flicks off the lamp next to his bed. As he settles in, Claire slides an arm under him while the other is wrapped over him, his chest serving as a pillow. Relaxing, Gabriel allows himself to wrap his own arms around the girl, with one hand searching for Claire's while the other is gently caressing the exposed skin between the bottom of Claire's cami and the elastic of her panties. _Victoria's Secret,_ Gabriel notes.

"Tell me a story," Claire says, a yawn escaping her lips.

"What kind of story?" Gabriel wants to know, already feeling peaceful and content with a pretty girl in his bed.

"Any kind of story, I like hearing your voice," she says. "I want to know what you were like growing up."

Gabriel lets out a yawn, "I was a loner, the shy quiet kid in the corner of the class room. I would stutter and stumble on my feet whenever a pretty girl looked at me. I was always picked on for being an outsider, a geek without a clue. As a pushover, I had let all the jocks walk all over me, but it did not matter to me because they did not matter to me. After graduation, I would never have to see them again. I just looked forward to the day when I would meet someone who would make me feel special, just the way I was…."

Claire listens to his words slur until she hears slow, even breathing. She takes his hand and presses it to her lips. Then, wrapping a leg over Gabriel's, Claire closes her eyes….and falls asleep, perfectly content.

* * *

A/N: they need to just hurry up and do it already, in my opinion. Ell oh Ell. I am surprised that I have reached the 100+ mark in reviews. Wow. I am so thankful for that. I was not expecting anyone to have stuck around as long as you guys have. Thank you.


	11. I Write Sins Not Tragedies

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

"_I still stand by my words that we all should get as far away from here as we can."_

"_What about the people left behind?" Claire asks. "Who is going to stop him if we run away? That's what we'd be doing. Running away."_

_Gabriel releases a humorless chuckle, "And why do I have this feeling that the weight of the world is on my shoulders?"_

"_You are your father's son," Noah says. "A killer, just like him. You ought to be able to calculate his moves."_

"_My __father__'s actions were totally on his own accord. I may be my father's son, but I never had a chance. __You__ never gave me a chance! However, when something strikes just a wee bit too close to home, you cannot bare to take __any__ responsibility in the fact that it was __you__ that made me a monster!"_

_Gabriel looks at Nathan with a quirked brow. Nathan continues, "But it was Claire who told me that the future is not written in stone. We write our own destinies, Gabriel, I think it's time that you write yours."_

"_Claire, what are you doing here?"_

_Claire is slightly taken aback when Gabriel answers the door in only his boxers. "I, uh," she stammers as she follows Gabriel to his bedroom. "I had to see you."_

"_Will there ever be a time when you can forgive me?" Gabriel whispers back._

_With wide eyes, Claire pulls back, "Gabriel, I…I…I forgave you a long time ago!" She wraps her arms around Gabriel's neck and cradles his face above her breasts. "I should have told you sooner, but I had already forgiven you. For everything."_

* * *

Chapter 11: I Write Sins Not Tragedies

_

* * *

_

Samson turns on a computer in the apartment of the man he had just murdered. The residence is still bare, as most of the deceased's belongings are still within their packaging. Samson quickly scans through email after email, anything that will tell him more about the late professor, doctor of psychology, new addition to the staff of UCLA. Needing to become more familiar of the man he will be posing as, Samson looks over the spring semester syllabi and student roster.

_He smiles knowingly as he sees Claire Butler's name, aka Claire Bennet. He found her ages ago in Costa Verde; stalking her, studying his new pray's habits, because that is what she is: game. He was slightly surprised to find his son with her, keeping her close as if she belongs only to him. But Samson is not concerned. If it comes down to it, he can use the girl to get to Gabriel. It would be like killing two birds with one stone. If Gabriel cannot be obtained, he still has the girl._

_The only matter Samson is disgruntled over is that it will take him longer than realized to covet the girl's power. He had no qualms about the others that have been tracking him, he had an ability that made it virtuously impossible for trackers to locate him. But if his son is anything like his old man, he would have realized that Samson is already in town, waiting for the perfect moment. _

Claire sits on her couch, trying to ignore the television program she would prefer watching with Gabriel rather than studying for the History final she has the next day. The television is not her only distraction, because Claire has her bare feet on Gabriel's lap, and he is expertly rubbing her petite foot with his massive hands.

"Ugh," Claire groans. "I hate tests, I'm ready for school to be done and over with."

Gabriel's hands glides up her right leg and starts massaging her calf. "Already? You're just about to finish up your first semester as a college freshman. You can't be tired of school already," he says. "Besides, you're a nursing major. You can't really become a nurse with only one semester's worth of education."

Claire makes a face at him. "I want to become a nurse. I just don't want to go through the hassle of school." Claire tosses her text book to the floor and turns herself around so that her head now lies on Gabriel's lap. "I want everything now," she whines.

Gabriel's chuckle reverberates through his body and Claire can feel the slight vibration. "College's suppose to be the greatest years of one's life. Enjoy it while you can," he tells her. Gabriel cups her cheek in one hand, and Claire turns her face to lay a soft kiss in his palm. "At least let me enjoy it vicariously through you. I never took advantage of it."

"What? The College life?"

"Yeah, NYU," Gabriel says. "I went there on a full academic scholarship. I was academically gifted, but socially inept. I requested a singles dorm room, so outside of class, I never had any interaction with others."

"What happened after college?" Claire wants to know.

"I was an engineering major, and my ability to know how things work made the classes particularly easy, but no one likes a know it all," Gabriel's gaze begins to wander, unfocused. "But it was never good enough for my mother. So it became harder for me to enjoy something I was good at when she disapproved of it. She'd rather I studied to become a lawyer or a doctor.

"Living the life of a waitress and a watchmaker's wife was not enough. She never had money growing up herself, so when I got the full ride to NYU, she thought she finally had something to show the world that she did something right. I ended up taking over my grandfather's shop after he passed away. It was the only thing I had linking me to my father, well, the man I thought to be my father at the time."

"You could enroll into UCLA with me," Claire says with a bright smile.

Gabriel snorts, "That's ok. Have you had orientation yet?"

She nods, "Yeah, last week, signed up for classes and everything. They almost didn't accept the credit hours I'm getting at ICDC."

"Almost?" Gabriel inquires, lazily twirling a lock of Claire's hair between his fingers.

"Yup, Nathan had a talking-to with the Dean of Students, I believe." Claire sits up and places her self on Gabriel's lap, side-straddling him. A slow, shy grin appears on Gabriel's lips, as he knows where this is going. Claire wraps her arms around Gabriel's neck and places her forehead on his, their intimate trademark. "I've missed you."

Gabriel's brows furrows, "What do you mean? I've been right here."

"Yeah, but you're always distracted."

But Gabriel does not say anything to this. "He's found me, hasn't he?" Claire wants to know.

"Yeah," Gabriel says, whatever intimacy there was is now dissipated. "Now we're totally at his mercy. He is hiding himself very well, better than I had anticipated."

Claire recognizes a disapproving tone in his voice, "Gabriel, I am not scared. You know I'm not lying about that. I have you here, and Peter. My shiny white knights to protect me."

Gabriel rolls his eyes at the mention of Peter's name, "Of course, Peter. How could I forget him."

Claire's gaze is scornful, "What is the matter? I thought you liked Peter."

Gabriel is slightly apologetic, "I do, but I always feel I'm living under his shadow. For two years, I was literally the villain to his heroics. Mike Tyson to his Evander Holyfield, that sort of thing."

"What I mean is that two is better than one, because the poo-face that is you biological father, no offence, does not seem like the kind of guy who is a team player. Plus, another reason you shouldn't feel over shadowed by Peter," Claire says, and starts leaning towards Gabriel's neck, "I am able to do this." Claire starts kissing him on the neck, the scent of his aftershave intoxicating her senses.

Clearly having been won over, Gabriel is sober enough to say, "That would be a good thing too 'cuz that would be illegal, not to mention gross." Gabriel's hand slides up her outer thigh as his other hand pulls her closer to him. In the distance, a cell phone goes off.

"Ignore it," Claire says, breathlessly between kisses.

"I think it's Matt," Gabriel says, nibbling at Claire's lower lip. "We had talked Peter into going to _Wild Bill's_ with us tonight."

"Yeah?" Claire murmurs.

"It's karaoke night," Gabriel murmurs back. "We were planning on seeing how many drinks it takes to get Peter drunk enough to sing _Born To Be Wild._"

"A boys' night out, eh?" Claire says, propping an elbow on the back of the couch and cradles her head on her hand.

"That is the plan," Gabriel says, his fingertips teasing the edges of Claire's barely there cotton shorts. "Of course, I can always back out. I'm sure we can find something to do…" His voice trails off at the obvious innuendo.

Claire rolls her eyes and grins, "You guys have your night out."

"You can always come with us. You'll have to where one of those wrist bands since you're under twenty-one, though. Please?" Gabriel says, sticking his lower lip out and trying to give Claire his saddest puppy-eyes.

Claire tries, and fails, to keep a straight face, "That is just sad. Fine. You're just lucky my exam isn't till three tomorrow."

Several hours later, Gabriel and Claire arrive at the bar in Long Beach, Matt and Peter waiting outside the bar.

"About time you guys," Peter says good naturedly, giving Claire a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Sorry," Claire says. "I couldn't find anything to wear." While Gabriel is still wearing the outfit he had on earlier, a white and yellow polo shirt with faded jeans, Claire spent literally an hour and a half modeling every outfit she had in her closet before deciding on a black jean jacket over a red tank with a tight pair of jeans that, as Gabriel was quick to point out, accentuated her bottom.

"Of course," Matt says, shaking his head. He ushers them into the bar, and after the bouncer straps the wrist band on Claire, they find an empty table near the middle of the bar where the karaoke stage is set up. They order a round of beers, coke for Claire, and they sit back while viewing intoxicated patrons butcher various songs such as _Single Ladies, Bohemian Rhapsody, Baby Got Back, _etc.

By the third round of drinks, the group is more than successful in getting Peter into performing. Not only is he on stage, he had been able to drag Gabriel on stage, alternating verses and sharing the chorus.

"_Like a true nature's child_," Gabriel belts out, not even glancing at the monitor displaying the lyrics. "_We were born, born to be wild. We can climb so high, I never wanna die._"

Facing Peter, they slap a hand on the other's shoulder while belting out, "_Born to be wild_" dragging the line multiple syllables longer than supposed. Then they stick their microphones toward the audience, during which the short period of time they had been able to get everyone onto their feet to rock out with them and everyone shouts the line back to them.

Feeling exhilarated, Gabriel heads toward the bar while Peter makes a quick run to the restroom. Everyone is praising him on the great performance, despite being off key, and Gabriel finally reaches the bartender. Before he could order another round, Gabriel is interrupted yet again by a young man.

"Duuuuude!" The obviously intoxicated college student says. "That was one wicked performance, man! That has to be the best one yet!"

Gabriel chuckles and shakes the other man's offered hand, "Nothing like alcohol to loosen one's inhibitions."

"Yeah, dude!" But before Gabriel makes another attempt at getting the bartender's attention, the other man grabs his attention and points toward the direction his table is at. "You see that blonde chick over there?"

Gabriel looks over to where he is pointing at, and is disgruntled when he sees that Claire is the only blonde in that particular area. "Yes," he says, all humor gone. "What of her?"

"I so totally nailed her a few weeks back," the young drunk declares. "She was like a bunny in the sack if you get my drift. I saw her totally rocking it when you were on stage. I bet you could get her to go home with ya!"

"That's my girlfriend you're talking about," Gabriel says.

But the other man is completely oblivious to the threatening tone in Gabriel's voice, "Really? Sweet! How quick was she to put out?"

Gabriel sees red as he grabs the other man's collar and shoves him, roughly and noisily, to the nearby wall and telekinetically lifts him inches off the ground. Everyone in the immediate vicinity moves out of the way, which grabs the attention of Matt, Peter, and Claire. "It would be wise for you to refrain from using such vocabulary if you know what is good for you," Gabriel tells him, his voice low and deadly.

"Gabriel? Stop it, please," Claire's voice breaking through Gabriel's anger. "He's just a jerk, that's all."

Even though Gabriel complies, Matt and Peter are quick to distance him from the other man, the one and only Aaron Wilcher. "C'mon man," Matt says. "Let's get out of here."

There is an uncomfortable silence in the truck as Gabriel drives himself and Claire home. Claire takes hold of Gabriel's right hand and firmly grasps it within her own. He takes the hint and slings his arm around Claire's shoulders and she scoots closer to him. "I'm sorry about earlier," he apologizes, careful not to let his gaze wander off the road, letting his TK switch on the necessary turn signals, not wanting to take his hand off the wheel but not wanting to let Claire go.

"Don't be, he had it coming."

"That's not the point," Gabriel argues. "I ought to be more in control of my emotions. I don't want to hurt anybody, not anymore."

"Is that so, Mr. Spock?" Claire says. "You're in more control now than you ever were in the past. So what if you almost got into a bar fight. Who hasn't? It's ok to feel angry, just as much as it is to feel happy, or sad, or love."

Gabriel finally relents and smiles, "Thank you. For everything. I ought to give Angela a call, just so that she knows I appreciate her, too, since she was the first to give me a new chance."

They arrive at Claire's apartment, and at her door, Gabriel leans down to give Claire a light kiss. She opens the door and he follows her into the apartment, hooking his fingers to the belt loop on the back of Claire's pants. Her room mates, Tammy and Liz, are still awake, watching a re-run of_ CSI_. "Hey you two," they greet.

"You got a package not too long ago," Tammy says to Claire. "I put it on your bed for you."

"Thanks," Claire says, leading Gabriel to her and Tammy's bedroom. Like Tammy said, a package is sitting on top her bed. Fumbling to peal off the tape, Gabriel takes the box from her.

"Here, I got it," he says, pointing at the box and slicing the tape on the top and sides. However, the item in the box is not what they expect.

"Oh, my god," Claire exclaims, taking the thing out of the box. "Is that what I think it is?"

Gabriel's expression is tight, "Yeah. It's from _him_."

Claire automatically drops the taxidermied rabbit and kicks it under her bed.

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked the light scene of the karaoke bar. I've had _Born to be Wild_ stuck in my head. While I never followed American Idol, I was severely disappointed when Adam didn't win, as I had loved his rendition of _Born to be Wild_.

Until then, fare well and good night.


	12. Ballad For The Lost Romantics

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

"_You're just about to finish up your first semester as a college freshman. You can't be tired of school already," he says. "Besides, you're a nursing major. You can't really become a nurse with only one semester's worth of education. College's supposed to be the greatest years of one's life. Enjoy it while you can," Gabriel tells her._

"_You could enroll into UCLA with me," Claire says with a bright smile._

_Gabriel snorts, "That's ok. Have you had orientation yet?"_

_She nods, "Yeah, last week, signed up for classes and everything"_

"_He's found me, hasn't he?" Claire wants to know._

"_Yeah," Gabriel says, whatever intimacy there was is now dissipated. "Now we're totally at his mercy. He is hiding himself very well, better than I had anticipated."_

"_You got a package not too long ago," Tammy says to Claire. "I put it on your bed for you."_

"_Oh, my god," Claire exclaims, taking the thing out of the box. "Is that what I think it is?"_

_Gabriel's expression is tight, "Yeah. It's from __him__."_

_Claire automatically drops the taxidermied rabbit and kicks it under her bed._

* * *

Chapter 12: Ballad For The Lost Romantics

* * *

"Are you sure you want to live the dorms?" Sandra asks her daughter as they carry in the last of Claire's belongings to her dorm room and begin sorting and putting away various items.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Claire says. "Gabe's certain that his father will want me as isolated as possible, and that's how I am back at the apartment. I was always by myself and I never talked to the neighbors, so…"

"But what does _Gabe_ think of you living in a dorm?" There is a slight disdain in Sandra's voice when she says Gabriel's name, but Claire does not pick up on it.

Claire shrugs, "He's not too thrilled. If he had it his way, he'd lock me in his apartment for a few decades. So he says to make sure I never leave the dorm alone."

"But what about when it comes to going to classes?"

"He says to become the good-girl/ social butterfly that he knows I am capable of being and make friends to walk around campus with," Claire tells her mother with a good natured roll of the eyes. "His words, not mine."

Taking a stack of Claire's tee shirts, Sandra begins to fold them, "I don't see how you're so quick to fall in line to what he says, or so quick to forgive him after what he did to you."

Claire groans, "Not this…_again_. Mom, he's not the same person anymore. Besides, what about you and Dad, after all the things he had done, and probably still doing?"

"It's not the same…"

Claire interrupts, "Mom! Gabriel attempted suicide when The Company intervened. Dad was the one who kept pushing Gabriel. You were more pissed off when you heard about that, so what is the real reason you don't like the idea of me and Gabriel?"

"It's just," Sandra starts, "he's so much older than you are."

Claire's jaw drops, "That's it?" Claire starts laughing, what ever irritation she had leaves. "Considering we're never going age or get old or anything, age difference is the last thing on our minds."

Suddenly a sad look appears in Claire's eyes. "Sweetie, what's the matter?" Sandra inquires.

"I was just thinking, what would have things been like, if I was the only one with my ability," Claire says. "How alone I would be. Bitter. Angry. The same emotions I would be having had I not chosen to forgive Gabriel for what he did as Sylar."

Sandra places a hand on Claire's back, "Maybe things happen for a reason, reasons we cannot imagine. Now, c'mon, let's go get your text books for this semester."

The following week, Claire finds herself at the school gym with her room mate Cathy, running along side her on a treadmill. On her other side is Jessie, a girl that lives across the hall from her. Like Gabriel had predicted, Claire is quite the social butterfly, and was able to become quick friends with the girls in her dorm and classes. The topic at the moment flitters over boys.

"All I want to know," Cathy says, in steady huffs as she jogs on the mill, "is when your deliciously yummy boy-toy is going to stop by again, and does he have a brother?

Claire laughs and rolls her eyes, "If you're hinting at the question of 'is he coming by again tonight after work?', then yes he is, and no to the second question." Since all of Claire's classes are scheduled in the morning so that she is out by one at the latest, and Gabriel's job at LAX is not far, he stops by for a few hours each evening before heading back to his own apartment in Costa Verde.

"Well, damn," Jessie says. "How old is he anyways? He seems a little old to me."

"Uh," Claire stutters, as she steps off the treadmill and begins wiping down the station. Her two new friends follow suite. "He's only…." The last part of the sentence is muffled as Claire chugs water from her water bottle.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" the other girls wants to know.

"He's thirty."

Jessie's and Cathy's eyes widen. Claire quickens her pace as they exit the gym and head back to the dormitories. "He's thirty, and you're, what, only eighteen?" Jessie says. "Cutting it a bit close, isn't he? Practically a cradle robber."

"Not to be crude or disrespectful or anything," Cathy says, "but you sure he isn't just trying to get into your pants or anything? Once he pops your cherry, what makes you think he's not gonna stick around? I've watched my older sister deal with this over and over again with older guys."

"It's not like that," Claire says. "He's been a perfect gentleman, and he hasn't pressured me into doing anything I didn't feel like doing. If anything, I've been the one trying to get him into taking things further."

"Claire?" Cathy says, taking Claire's arm and turning her so that they were facing each other. "He's not gay, is he?"

Claire let out a snort, "NO! He is definitely straight, that I can assure you. It's only that, well, he'll never admit this to anyone, but he still has issues over an old girlfriend." It is not exactly a lie. Claire has been trying to consummate their relationship, however brief it has been so far, but Gabriel has been insistent not to rush things. Gabriel would never tell her the real reason, but Claire has a good idea why, but the fake story of Elle's death from a car accident is the only story she can tell her friends.

"Oh don't you even start!" Jessie raves. "He's only with you to make this old girlfriend jealous, isn't he? And you're letting him take advantage of you!"

Claire interrupts her friend's rant, "She died. In a car accident from when Gabriel was living in New York. He was the one driving. There was a lot of snow, and Gabe lost control of the car. She died instantly, but the injuries Gabriel sustained were so bad that he was in a coma for two years, the doctors didn't think he'd make it."

"Oh, god," Cathy says, giving her room mate a quick hug, "I'm so sorry sweetie. I shouldn't have been such a bitch about the age difference. I was just trying to look out for you, after dealing with my sister's disasters, and all."

Claire grins and shoulder bumps her room mate, "It's fine, I'm used to it. My parents are still trying to get used to the idea."

Cathy looks over at Claire with a sly grin, "You know, since I go home every other weekend, you are more than welcome to having a sleep over with the boy-toy."

Claire laughs, and the three girls finally arrive at their dorm.

"What is the point of this class again?" Gabriel asks, sitting on Claire's bed, flipping through the pages of one of her textbooks.

Claire, pounding away at her keyboard, responding to various people IMing her at the moment, responds, "Which class?"

"_Psychology into the Criminal Mind_," Gabriel says. "You're not taking this class as a way to figure out my father's next move is it? Because it would be a poor move, it's barely a two-hundred level class. A six-hundred level in the masters program maybe…."

Claire does not look away from her computer, "Uh, duh. The class would fulfill a psychology requirement and I figured it'd be an easy _A_." When she says that, Claire turns around and gives Gabriel an innocent smile.

He only looks back at her, "And how is that working out for you?"

She shrugs, "Dunno yet, only had one class so far. The professor's interesting though. He reminds me of the guy that plays Lex Luthor's dad in _Smallville_."

"I still think you ought to hide out in my apartment till the old man croaks," Gabriel grumbles, telekinetically summoning the remote to the television, turning it on to a talk show with a large black woman proclaiming, "_Ah am one thousand percent sho' he's mah bay-bah's daddy!_" He turns off the TV.

"Gabriel," Claire starts, placing herself on the bed, head on his lap and feet propped on the foot board, "lets not start this again, please? I may never have much of a quasi-normal life after this, especially when I start outliving my family. I want to have a college life while they can still experience it with me. So, I have a crazy stalker after me, it's not like that part is unheard of."

"Except this crazy stalker have multiple abilities to wreak havoc," Gabriel tells her, incredulous. "How can you be so calm?"

"Because I just so happen to have an attentive boyfriend with a few tricks up his sleeves," Claire says, taking Gabriel's large hand into her own, pressing her thumbs against his palm, massaging it.

"What else is about your boyfriend," Gabriel says, lazily playing along.

"Well, he is quite ruggedly good looking," Claire says, "and he has thick hair that begs to be touched…"

She is about to go on when Cathy walks in, "Hello lovelies. I hope to God I didn't walk in on anything that will scar me for life."

"Nope!" Claire says, sitting upright. "Nothing explicit." She looks over at Gabriel and sees that he is silently banging his head against the wall, as if to say 'how dare she interrupt just as I was about to get laid'.

"I better get going," Gabriel says, getting up. "Janice is coming and I told Matt that I'd babysit Mattie while they go out to dinner."

"They're actually entrusting you with their baby's well being while they're out?" Claire says, faking shock.

"Surprisingly, yes," Gabriel whispers into Claire's ear as he kisses her good bye. "I'll call you later tonight."

When Gabriel shuts the door behind him, Cathy goes, "God he is fine."

"Yeah, I know."

In her psychology class, Claire sits in the back of the lecture hall as she waits for the class to end. It is not that she does not like the class, but the student sitting next to her keeps breathing through his mouth, emitting a long wheezing sound between his teeth. By the greasy hair and the stench of body odor, Claire surmised he has not showered in a while. The wheezing and the smell is distracting Claire's concentration of the professor's lecture about socio-economic possibilities of why someone would commit crime.

"African-American population is at a disadvantage in most places of large cities," Professor Jennings says, "since they are over represented in the criminal justice system, employers are skeptical of hiring African-Americans. If they are not working, they are not making money. No money to fulfill their basic needs is motivation to commit most crimes.

"Turn to page fifty-three and look at table 2.3," Jennings commands the class. "Now, what do you see?"

Claire looks over the table displaying the arrest rate of whites and blacks for types of crimes. She raises her hand, "Blacks have the highest arrest rate for non-violent crimes such as theft and narcotics. Those crimes are usually monetary related."

Jennings nods, "Good. We'll finish this chapter and then start up on white-collar crimes on Monday."

Claire gathers her belongings and slings her book bag over her shoulder and walks up to her professor, "Excuse me, Professor?"

The professor looks up, "Yes? How can I help you?"

Claire gives a nervous giggle. There is something about the professor that is familiar to her, but she cannot quite place the feeling. "Um, I was wondering if I could schedule an appointment to meet you in your office to go over today's notes. I have class during your office hours, so…?"

"That would be not a problem," he says. "But I do not know when would be the best time; I have meetings all next week."

Claire nods, "Yeah, ok. I'll just try sending an email to the class first."

"Yes. If you feel that you're missing anything still, just let me know, Miss Butler," Jennings tells Claire, placing folders in his briefcase. "I take it the boy next to you was distracting you?"

Claire laughs, "Yeah, a little bit."

Jennings laughs with her, "I know of the student, a senior I believe. He is quite infamous with the criminal justice professors with his-how should I say this delicately?-bodily disruptions."

Claire says her goodbye and turns to leave. But just as she reaches for the door, she turns around, "Professor, how'd you know my name?"

Jennings reaches into his briefcase and pulls out a piece of paper, "Your student ID picture is next to your name on my student roster . Your name is right here on the first page. I have a good memory, but I'm no mind reader-there's no such thing!"

Claire gives a nervous laugh, "Right! Of course! Hehe. See you on Monday."

Claire walks to her next class, thinking about the brief conversation with Professor Jennings. There is something strikingly familiar about him but Claire cannot, for the life of her, place her finger on why he seems familiar to her. The professor is tall, thin, with an aged face full of vitality despite the gray in his beard and the hair at his temples. She pushes the thought out of her mind as she looks at her watch, and realizes that she is five minutes late to her biology class.

_Looking outside from the floor above the breeze way, Samson watches on as Claire hurries to the building down the walk way. He works his magic on her, displacing any realization or recognition she might have of his true identity. _This shall be interesting_, Samson muses to himself._

* * *

A/N: I like the idea of Samson hiding in plain sight from everyone, but I really felt that this chapter was a bit weak. But in other news happy birthday to Zachary Quinto! Even tho its after midnight now as I post this! And I must apologize for the lack of rapid fire updates, im out of school for the summer and picking up more hours at work, so the most I can do is once a week on updates.

So until then, farewell and good night!


	13. No One Mourns The Wicked

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

_Claire finds herself at the school gym with her room mate Cathy, running along side her on a treadmill. On her other side is Jessie, a girl that lives across the hall from her. Like Gabriel had predicted, Claire is quite the social butterfly, and was able to become quick friends with the girls in her dorm and classes….. _

_Jessie's and Cathy's eyes widen. Claire quickens her pace as they exit the gym and head back to the dormitories. "He's thirty, and you're, what, only eighteen?" Jessie says. "Cutting it a bit close, isn't he? Practically a cradle robber."_

"_It's not like that," Claire says. "He's been a perfect gentleman, and he hasn't pressured me into doing anything I didn't feel like doing. If anything, I've been the one trying to get him into taking things further."_

"Psychology into the Criminal Mind_," Gabriel says. "You're not taking this class as a way to figure out my father's next move is it? Because it would be a poor move, it's barely a two-hundred level class. A six-hundred level in the masters program maybe…."_

_Claire does not look away from her computer, "Uh, duh. The class would fulfill a psychology requirement and I figured it'd be an easy __A__." _

_There is something strikingly familiar about Professor Jennings but Claire cannot, for the life of her, place her finger on why he seems familiar to her. The professor is tall, thin, with an aged face full of vitality despite the gray in his beard and the hair at his temples….._

_**Looking outside from the floor above the breeze way, Samson watches on as Claire hurries to the building down the walk way. He works his magic on her, displacing any realization or recognition she might have of his true identity. **__This shall be interesting__**, Samson muses to himself.**_

* * *

Chapter 13: No One Mourns The Wicked

* * *

In the private booth within the fancy restaurant, Angela Petrelli convenes with Noah and her sons. While Angela is content with her calamari, Nathan, Peter, and Noah are at unease.

"It's almost been a year, Ma," Nathan says, "and we're no closer to finding Gray than when you first had the dream."

"Gabe's becoming anxious," Peter injects. "He's afraid to let Claire out of his sight."

"He already knows his father is in the area," Noah adds. "But what should we do now?"

Angela looks up from her plate, "Do you ever wonder how serial killers were so successful at getting away with their crimes? Usually, they find their target, stalk it, learn their habits, then strike at them when they are most vulnerable. They are meticulous; thorough.

"Then they become sloppy."

"Are you suggesting that we just wait?" Noah asks, incredulous. "Let him come to us?"

Angela scowls, "Do you think I find pleasure in the fact that Mr. Gray has the upper hand? So far, he has stopped killing; however, that leaves no trail for us to follow. So that leaves the old fashioned way of following any suspicious paper trails: old accounts, property in the area. We should include any missing persons' data. If the father and son are anything alike, Mr. Gray might be impersonating someone. We must look at every angle."

"Where should we start?" Peter asks.

~*~

"I never realized how much I could love a class," Claire says to Gabriel. It is about a month and a half into the new semester and Jennings and his class is the only thing Claire seems to talk about, much the Gabriel's dismay. "I mean, I've never had a grade lower than a B in school—"

"When you went to school and not off saving the world," Gabriel mutters.

Claire stares hard at Gabriel, "What is wrong with you?"

"You talk about him like he's the second coming of Christ," Gabriel tells her. "It is one thing to be inspired by your professor, but you're boarder-line in love with him. You go on and on about him being such a charismatic character, commanding and captivating the class room, and how handsome he is—"

Claire's roommate, Cathy, walks into their room and over hears the last part of Gabriel's rant, "Oh, God, was she going about that stupid class again?"

Gabriel motions over to Cathy, "Thank you! See, Claire, I'm not the only one!"

Claire rolls her eyes and playfully nudges Gabriel with her bare foot, causing him lightly fall back onto her bed, "You're just jealous that I actually know someone outside our little circle that is _intelligent_."

Grabbing her foot and staring at her with a predatory gaze, Gabriel asks, "Are you implying that I am…_unintelligent_?"

Claire replies, ignoring her roommate's exaggerated gagging motions, with an impish grin,"Mehbeh."

"Ok," Gabriel says, suddenly, as if disinterested. "I guess that means you don't want the early Valentine's Day present I have in my inside pocket of my jacket." At the words 'early Valentine's Day present', both Claire and Cathy whip their gaze toward Gabriel, who is twiddling his thumbs and whistling while staring at the ceiling.

"Claire!" Cathy shouts. "Tell him you're sorry so I can see what he got you!"

Claire pouts, "I'm sorry for trying to make you jealous."

"Oh, so you were trying to make me jealous, now?" Gabriel says, standing up so he could get to his jacket that is hanging on the post of the bunk beds. Pulling two tickets, he continues, "Well, now I'm really uncertain if I should give these to you." Gabriel shrugs. "I can always give these to Matt, I'm sure he and Janice would like a weekend in San Francisco to see _Wicked_."

Claire and Cathy squeal, "Claire! A weekend alone in San Francisco! I can think of several ways you can beg for forgiveness!"

The two Heroes blush at the obvious innuendo, and Gabriel automatically turns into the shy, nerdy Gabriel Gray, "I, uh, got the tickets last minute. So the seats aren't that great, upper balcony seats I think." He shoves his hands into his pockets, tucking his chin to his chest while stealing peaks at Claire's reaction through his lashes. "I, uh, thought it would be, uh, nice, you know, to have a little trip together, and do…stuff."

"That would be wonderful," Claire says, enjoying the shy side of Gabriel. "When's the performance?"

"It's next Saturday," he says. "I know it's quick notice, but--"

Cathy suddenly cuts in, "Oh Em Gee!!! That's when me and Jessie are going to be there, we got tickets to see _Wicked_, too!"

Claire blinks, then a bit hurt, "You and Jess are going to San Francisco? How come you never said anything?"

"Well, 'cuz you guys were having a moment," Cathy says, giving Claire a look, as if to say 'duh', totally oblivious that Claire is hurt that they excluded her in their weekend trip.

"I'm gonna go tell Jess, the four of us should totally do something while we're there, right before the show!"

Gabriel watches the other girl bounce out of the room before turning his gaze to his girl in front of him, "What is the matter?"

Claire quickly looks at him, wide eyes and a forced smile, "Nothing!"

Gabriel feels a cold chill shiver down his spine, and gives Claire a knowing look and she relents, "It's just that this is the first time they have excluded me in any plans. But I'm fine; I just get paranoid about feeling left out, probably stemmed from elementary school drama." Claire leans into Gabriel, placing her hands on his chest. "I really hate that ability, you know?"

"I know," he says, leaning against the bed post and wrapping his arms around Claire. "I love you," Gabriel quickly breathes, holding in the last of his breath.

Claire beams at his confession, and stands on her tippy-toes to give the much taller man a brief kiss, "I love you, too, Gabriel."

Gabriel exhales, and pushes a lock of blonde hair behind Claire's ear. "I told you, you would eventually come to love me." As soon as he finishes that sentence, Gabriel cringes, and Claire's expression falls, because when he first said that, it was the day they were at the hotel suite. The day Sylar killed Nathan. The day Sylar left and Gabriel had returned.

"I'm sorry," Gabriel apologizes. "I shouldn't have said that."

"You ought to go," Claire says. "I've still got a lot of homework to do." Gabriel nods, and picks up his jacket. He gives Claire one last glance before heading out the door.

~*~

True to her word, Cathy makes sure that the four of them would get together while they are in San Francisco. Even though they took different modes of transportation and booked different hotels, all three girls took advantage of the freedom away from school, parents, and teachers to do whatever they want while still having the big, strong man that is Gabriel to play body guard.

The performance is not till that night, Gabriel and the girls all got up early to tour the city. Their tour is limited, however, since all the main attractions are closer towards the coast and their hotel is more inland. They are able to enjoy the Golden Gate Park-Claire and Jessie partaking the horse-back riding outing and Cathy and Gabriel exploring the California Academy of Science and the live buffalo reserve.

After successfully squeezing in both the Exploratorium _and _the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art into their sight-seeing, the four decide to eat dinner at a cute, out door café. "Man, I've never walked so much in my _life_," Jessie whines.

"Oh, come on!" Gabriel quips. "You enjoyed it." He excuses himself to find a restroom, and Cathy and Jessie lean towards Claire.

"Girl," Jessie starts, "as much as we love Gabe, the next time we have a road trip somewhere, he's not coming!"

Claire is startled, "What?"

"Claire," Cathy says, "there are only so many things to do in a day. Gabe's like a nazi when it came to sight-seeing. He's worse than my parents, trying to squeeze everything into a day."

Claire rolls her eyes, and before she can reply, Cathy continues, "But that is beside the point. Did you bring it with you?"

By _it_, Cathy means the sexy lingerie she and Jessie had talked Claire into purchasing. Claire had been about to buy a new dress for the trip, but Cathy had insisted she borrow her black dress so that Claire could save her money and buy a lacy, red babydoll with a matching skirted thong and garter. It still makes Claire blush to think about it.

"Shhhhh!" Claire hisses, "and yes I did. I still can't believe I let you guys talk me into buying that!"

Before Cathy or Jessie could reply, Gabriel returns to their table. The girls all look at Gabriel, then back at each other. Without another word, the girls burst into giggles, leaving Gabriel feeling very confused.

~*~

"_Wicked_ was amazing, Gabriel," Claire says, leaning into Gabriel with her arms linked around his own arm.

"I am glad you liked it," he says, smiling, before turning his gaze to Claire's friends walking ahead of them, belting off-key to "Defying Gravity". As they are walking back to Gabriel's truck parked a few blocks away, he keeps looking over his shoulder.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Claire inquires, looking around herself and seeing nothing on the streets but herself, Gabriel, Cathy and Jessie.

"Someone's following us," Gabriel says, grimly, his free hand emitting tiny sparks of blue electricity.

Claire's eyes widen, "What? Do you think it could be _him_?"

"I'm not—" Gabriel is not able to finish, as Claire hears a click, and in the corner of her eye she sees a gun barrel aimed at Gabriel's head. Happening way too quickly for anyone to react accordingly, the gunman pulls the trigger. Gabriel stumbles and tries to turn around as the gunman nabs Claire's purse. The gunman fires three more shots into Gabriel's chest before running off.

As Gabriel falls to the ground, he lets off a pulse of electricity, knocking out all the power within the city block. "GABRIEL!!" As Claire's eyesight adjust to the darkness, and the full moon's bright luminosity, she sees Gabriel is not moving and she kneels to his side.

"Claire! Gabriel!" Claire's friends are rushing towards her side, the clitter-clatter of their heals echoing in the night. "Oh my God!"

Claire ignores her friends, and continues shouting, "Get up! Please! I love you! You can't leave me like this! Dad told me you moved the sweet spot! You can't get killed that way anymore!"

But he still isn't moving, and Cathy and Jessie are too distraught to understand what Claire is saying about a 'sweet spot'. As Claire continues to shake Gabriel, his jacket falls open and Claire sees a white envelope with writing resembling Noah's handwriting. Tears flowing and covered in blood, Claire takes the envelope.

'Just in case'

That is what is written on the envelope, and inside are fake IDs for both her and Gabriel. Claire's head clears. She quickly wipes her hands and the IDs of blood as much as she could and pulls out hers and Gabriel's wallets from one of his inside pockets.

"Claire!" Cathy gasps, Jessie crying on her shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Having switched the IDs and tossing their real drivers' license into the storm drain with the envelope, Claire heaves one last sob as she hands Cathy her copy of their hotel key card and the keys to the truck. "Go back to our hotel room. Talk to no one. If anyone asks, you were not here, nor give out your real names. You were never with us tonight."

"What's going on?" Jessie cries out. "What are you not telling us?"

"Go now!" Claire demands. "I'll explain everything."

Cathy and Jessie both give her uncertain glances, but they do what she tells them to do, and they quickly scurry towards Gabriel's truck. Not watching her friends go off, the flood gates that are her eyes breaks once more as the tears pour out, and Claire cradles her beloved's head in her lap, sobbing and muttering for him to get up.

After what seems like a century, it is only minutes when paramedics arrive.

"Miss!" The first EMT says, "Are you alright?"

Claire is unable to speak. A second EMT gently pulls her away from Gabriel, and as Claire weakly protests at be separated from him, she notices something in her hand. Looking at her hand and it is the bullet that has been dislodged from Gabriel's head. Wide eyed, she barely registers the first EMT exclaims that he found a pulse, and as the EMTs place Gabriel onto a stretcher, the only thought that is going through her mind as she is being ushered into the ambulance, "_Oh, shit_".

* * *

A/N: sorry about the long wait. With the start of summer school and picking up more hours at work, one thing leads to another and I wasn't able to focus on continuing with the story.

Also, im having difficulty trying to continuing with the Samson Gray is going after his son and Claire story line so I apologize in advance for straying off the story. There are just so many other situations and scenarios to stick the Heroes in.

Until next time, fare well and goodnight.


	14. This Is How I Disappear

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

"_It's almost been a year, Ma," Nathan says, "and we're no closer to finding Gray than when you first had the dream."_

"_Mr. Gray has the upper hand. So far, he has stopped killing; however, that leaves no trail for us to follow. If the father and son are anything alike, Mr. Gray might be impersonating someone. We must look at every angle."_

_Claire and Cathy squeal, "Claire! A weekend alone in San Francisco!"_

"_Why do you keep doing that?" Claire inquires. "Someone's following us," Gabriel says._

_Claire's eyes widen, "What? Do you think it could be __him__?"_

_Claire sees a gun barrel aimed at Gabriel's head. Happening way too quickly for anyone to react accordingly, the gunman pulls the trigger. The gunman nabs Claire's purse and fires three more shots into Gabriel's chest before running off._

_Looking at her hand, she sees it is the bullet that has been dislodged from Gabriel's head. Wide eyed, she barely registers the first EMT exclaim that he found a pulse, and as the EMTs place Gabriel onto a stretcher, the only thought that is going through her mind as she is being ushered into the ambulance is, "__Oh, shit__"._

* * *

Chapter 14: This Is How I Disappear

* * *

"We're very sorry for your loss, Miss Livingston," Detective Maria Ross says to Claire. "My partner and I understand that what you went through tonight was traumatic. What ever you can tell us, it will be helpful in catching the guy."

Ross's partner, Detective Dmitri Ryan, speaks, "What can you tell us? Start with the moment you and your boyfriend left the theater."

Claire is silent for the longest time. She had hidden the fact that Gabriel was shot in the back of the head from the EMTs, as the bullet that dropped into her hand proved evident that the head wound was gone. But they declared him dead on arrival. The event that night caused her to become semi-catatonic. She was not sure if it was an act or if he was really dead for good, as she has not been able to see his body as the EMTs and doctors rolled him to the morgue. Claire hid the bullet inside her strapless bra as she was changing into some clothes provided by the hospital. She hopes that Matt will be able to find something off the bullet.

"Miss Livingston?" Ryan inquires, pulling Claire out of her stupor. "Do you need some water?" Without waiting for an answer, he motions to his partner the pitcher and a plastic cup. Claire guzzles down the water.

"Thank you," Claire manages to say.

Ross nods, "Now, what do you remember?"

Claire becomes unfocused in her gaze, trying not to let her emotions compromise the blend of the truth and lies to protect her and Gabriel. "He hated crowds, and traffic, _Jimmy_ did. Since it was supposed to be a clear night, he proposed that we park a ways back from the theater…. _Jimmy_ had a gut feeling that someone was following us. But I didn't see anyone but us, we had parked that far out. Suddenly, I hear a click, and as soon as we turn around, _Jimmy _gets three shots in the chest and my clutch purse is gone."

"We noted that your wallet was in Jimmy's coat," Ryan says. "What was in the purse? Was there anything of value in it?"

Claire shrugs, "Just my make-up and cell phone. It was our first weekend away together, I was so excited about it all, I made sure _Jimmy_ had my wallet. I wasn't used to carrying a clutch purse, y'know?" Claire looks hopelessly at the detectives, the levees breaking and tears come pouring out. "Why did this happen? We're supposed to be _forever_. Not figuratively, but literally_ forever_."

Ross kneels down so that she is at eye level with Claire, "We will find out who did this."

Ryan continues, "You said your cell phone was left in the purse, was it turned on? We can call the service provider; see if they can find the GPS signal."

Claire shakes her head, "No, I turned it off right before the show started." She pours herself some more water and takes a sip. "Have they cut him up? I've watched a lot of _CSI_, and I know that's what they do to all the dead people. Can I see him, one last time, just as he is?"

Ryan and Ross nod, "The ME's finishing up on a couple o' vics right now, figured as much that you'll want to say good bye," Ryan tells Claire.

The detectives lead Claire down a hall, and one of the ME's assistants points the trio to the room Gabriel's body is being kept. Claire glances back toward the detectives and sees them speaking to the EMT that picked up Gabriel and her.

Pushing the door to the morgue open, Claire sees…_nothing_. She lets out a blood-curdling scream. The detectives and doctors come pouring in and Claire launches herself at Ryan, "WHERE IS HE?!" She keeps screaming, repeatedly pounding her fists against Ryan's broad chest. "YOU SAID HE WAS IN HERE!!"

Ryan grabs her wrists and pulls her into the hallway, where Ross and the doctors are scrambling around, calling for security and wondering where _Jimmy_ could have gone. Ryan guides Claire to a spot away from the commotion, "Stay put," he tells her. Ryan does not tell her that things were going to be ok, or that they'll find Gabriel's body, he just says to stay put.

As soon as Ryan turns his back and is out of Claire's sight, a large hand covers her mouth and she sees a long arm arching over her, hugging her close to a hard, lean body. Claire sneaks a peak at her captor. From the white coat and scrubs he is wearing, he's one of the doctors but Claire does not recognize him. She struggles as the man half-carries/half-drags her to a flight of stairs leading to the roof.

"CLAIRE," the man cries in a whispered yell. "It's me! Gabriel!" As he was talking, Claire audibly hears bone crunching and shifting, as the man becomes taller, younger, and the baggy scrubs fill out with Gabriel's muscular form.

"You're ok!" Claire cries in disbelief. They cup each other's faces in shaky hands, and as Gabriel leans toward Claire, she starts wailing him with her tiny fists. "You asshole! You have any idea how scared I was? I thought you were actually dead! You could've given me some hint that you were ok! Why didn't you wait till I got to you, I wouldn't have made such a scene! Now the whole San Francisco Police Department will be out looking for us, you jerk-faced jerk!"

Gabriel pulls her close and silences her with a hard kiss. Pressing his forehead against hers, "I'm sorry, I really am. But I was afraid to do anything that would give us away. It took a lot to keep myself from healing in front of the doctors. Between revealing my abilities and letting them believe some sicko is stealing fresh cadavers from the morgue, I took the lesser of two evils."

But Claire stares hard at Gabriel, "I thought you were dead. The EMTs pronounced you dead at 11:15 pm. We didn't even reach the hospital."

"Cut the dramatics, Claire," Gabriel snaps. "I'm not dead, and in case you haven't realized, neither one of us has this all planned out. We need to get out of here before they discover us!"

~*~

In Washington, DC, Peter steps into his apartment. He strips out of his paramedic uniform and debates on going straight to bed or a shower to sooth his stiff muscles. Peter decides on the former and settles in his bed. As he is about to doze off, the sound of the phone jars him back to reality.

Groaning, Peter feels around his night stand for the phone. "Yeah," he says, too exhausted to remember pleasantries.

"Haven't you heard of a cell phone?" says the voice Peter recognizes to be Noah Bennet's. "I've been trying to call you all night!"

"Noah, I just got home from a shift at work, I probably left my cell in my locker at the hospital," Peter glances at the clock. "It's almost 4:30, what do you need?"

"I received an email from Micah Saunders," Noah says. "We have a lead."

Peter becomes wide awake, "What kind of lead?"

"Going on the theory that Gray might be using an alias," Noah starts, "we had Micah filter through property records, leases, and motels and see if any names pop up without viable IRS records proving they exist and paying their taxes.

"That proved to be more complicated as there are hundreds of people with the same first and last name. So we checked missing persons."

"What'd you find?" Peter wants to know, any chance for sleep gone.

"A psychologist by the name of Jacob Jennings, he moved to LA from the Midwest. Not the type to ignore family, they were concerned when they never heard from and contacted the LAPD. And get this, he was just signed on to the faculty of UCLA. Gray's posing as one of Claire's professors!"

"Are you sure about this?"

"It's too much to be a coincidence, Peter. Just as we find out that Gray's in California, a man goes missing. A man that always kept in touch with friends and family, he disappears but credit cards are still active and in use. Plus, the description the University gave does not match the real Jennings' photo."

"Oh, no," Peter mutters. "I'm on my way to Costa Verde. Does Matt know?"

"Yeah," Noah says. "I told him to wait on you for back up before checking things out."

~*~

It takes about an hour and a half for Claire and Gabriel to reach the hotel. When they made it to the rooftop of the hospital, Gabriel had to telekinetically float themselves to the ground near some woods and take the back way to their destination. They found the fire escape around the back, but the iron ladder was stuck in place with rust, and made an awful noise when Gabriel tries to TK it loose. Instead, he lifts Claire so she can reach the ladder and pull herself up before floating himself up.

They make it to their floor and as Gabriel jimmies the window open, he asks, "You sure Cathy and Jess will be in the room?"

Claire nods, "Yeah….I hopes so. I just don't know how to explain this to them." They approach room 623 and Claire gives a tentative knock. "You guys there? It's Claire."

"Claire?!" came the muffled response as Cathy opens the door with Jessie standing right behind her, still in their evening wear and mascara smeared. However, when their gazes move from Claire to Gabriel standing beside her, Cathy's and Jessie's eyes widens as their chests heaves up, as if to scream.

Both Claire and Gabriel notice this and they clamp their hands over the girls' mouths. Shoving themselves and the girls back into their room, Gabriel surveys the hallway outside the room before facing Claire's friends.

"Wh-wh-what happened?" Cathy stutters. "We saw you on the ground, covered in blood."

"We thought you were dead," Jessie says, "and Claire dumps your guy's driver's licenses and tells us that we were never with you guys. What are you not telling us?"

"To put it simply," Gabriel says, not facing the girls but moving to pack his and Claire's belongings, "the X-Men are real, only without the fancy gadgets and spandex."

"What he means is," Claire says, giving Gabriel a hard stare, "there are people out there with special abilities. Some are amazing, some are dangerous, and it is important that the world doesn't know that those people exist. People like me and Gabriel."

"Abilities, like what kind of abilities?" Cathy and Jessie want to know.

"For starters," Gabriel pipes, grabbing some clean clothes and heads towards the bathroom, as he is still in scrubs, "we can't die."

Claire groans, "Gabriel, do you have to be so crass?"

"Claire, I don't have time to be sensitive right now," he growls. "I got shot….someone shot me in the back of the head. Pardon me for being a little pissed." He slams the bathroom door shut, and the sound of the shower is heard.

"What did he mean, you guys can't die?" Cathy asks.

"Rapid cellular regeneration," Claire explains. "If I get injured, my body creates new tissue to replace the injured parts so that I'm good and new. I can never get sick, and I can't die. A shot to the head could kill me, but Gabriel's a special case, he can't be taken out that easily."

"So you both have this ability?"

Claire nods, "But Gabriel got the ability from me, as he obtained multiple abilities from other people."

"How'd he do that?" Jessie wants to know.

"You don't want to know," the girls jump at Gabriel's voice, as they did not realize he had finished his shower.

"You girls' need to stop by your hotel?" Gabriel asks.

Jessie and Cathy shake their heads, "No, we grabbed our stuff and checked out as soon as we could before coming here," Cathy says.

Gabriel nods, "Good, change into something more comfortable, borrow Claire's clothes if you have to. You're riding with us back to LA, and I'm not stopping for anything but gas."

The girls change clothes as Gabriel proceeds to continue packing and making sure nothing is left out, not bothering to give them privacy. When Claire pulls the t-shirt over her head, she hears a soft pat of something hitting the floor. She looks down and sees the bullet.

Gabriel notices Claire freeze and looks at where she is staring at.

"What is that?" he wants to know.

"It's the bullet that was shot at your head," Claire says, picking it up and handing it to Gabriel.

As he handles the bullet between his fingers, an image flashes in Gabriel's mind.

"Claire, you, Cathy, and Jessie will have to leave without me," Gabriel says, tossing Claire the keys. Claire rushes at him and turns him around, so that he's facing her. Looking into Gabriel's eyes, Claire sees something she thought she was never encounter again….

"Where are you going?" Claire demands.

"The man who shot me," Gabriel says, with a glint in his eyes, "I know where he lives.

"I'm going to find him, and then I'm going to kill him."

* * *

A/N: whewwy, is it me or is it getting hot?

Until next time, farewell and good night


	15. Beauty Has Her Way

_I Can Fix You_

_Previously on Heroes_

_Claire looks hopelessly at the detectives, the levees breaking and tears come pouring out. "Why did this happen? We're supposed to be __forever__. Not figuratively, but literally__ forever__."_

"_CLAIRE," the man cries in a whispered yell. "It's me! Gabriel!"_

_But Claire stares hard at Gabriel, "I thought you were dead. The EMTs pronounced you dead at 11:15 pm. We didn't even reach the hospital."_

"_Cut the dramatics, Claire," Gabriel snaps. "I'm not dead, and in case you haven't realized, neither one of us has this all planned out. We need to get out of here before they discover us!"_

"_I received an email from Micah Saunders," Noah says. "We have a lead. Gray's posing as one of Claire's professors!"_

"_We thought you were dead," Jessie says, "and Claire dumps your guy's driver's licenses and tells us that we were never with you guys. What are you not telling us?"_

_Claire says, "there are people out there with special abilities, and it is important that the world doesn't know that those people exist. People like me and Gabriel."_

"_It's the bullet that was shot at your head," Claire says, picking it up and handing it to Gabriel._

"_Where are you going?" Claire demands._

"_The man who shot me," Gabriel says, with a glint in his eyes, "I know where he lives. I'm going to find him, and then I'm going to kill him."_

* * *

Chapter 15: Beauty Has Her Way

* * *

As soon as Gabriel uttered those final words, he turns around with a swift motion and exits the hotel room.

Claire gathers her senses and follows Gabriel. However, she is a nanosecond behind him but Gabriel is no where in sight. "Dammit," Claire mutters to herself.

She re-enters the room and sees her friends, staring at her with a mixture of horror, wonder, and confusion.

"Was that another one of his abilities?" Cathy asks.

Claire furrows her brows. "What do you mean?"

"We saw his lips moving," Jessie says, "but we couldn't hear a word he was saying. There was no sound coming from him. Or you."

Claire thinks, going over all the abilities she know Gabriel has. "Sound manipulation," she concludes. "He must have prevented sound waves from reaching your ears, or something."

"Why? What did he say that was so important that he didn't want us knowing?" Jessie wants to know.

"He didn't want you to know what he's capable of," _Lucky them,_ Claire thinks. "We need to get out of here."

~*~

Gabriel is able to find the home of his shooter, with relative ease. The history he had flashed on from the bullet gave him the location he needed to get to. Like hitting rewind, from the moment his Claire hands him the bullet, he sees it when Claire hides it in her bra, to the moment it was aimed at his head, and finally to the location where it was loaded into the gun. _There_! If he concentrated further, Gabriel probably would have found out the point of origin of where the bullet was made.

Surveying his surroundings, Gabriel does not know what to make of his assailant. While the apartment is not presentable for decent company, it was fairly clean and livable. Gabriel notes dirty dishes in the sink, jars of peanut butter and jelly on the counter, laundry strewn across the couch….and a child's mini-kitchenette play set in the corner of the living room.

Gabriel had let his finger tips lightly graze the items in the home, picking up memories of the person. Gabriel feels his anger leaving, being replaced with pity and sorrow. It was evident from the history he was flashing on that the person had a delinquent past and done some time, but he was trying to make something of his life. Michael Dobson was trying to turn his life around. Gabriel learns that Dobson was going back to school, based on the worn backpack and books on the table. From the hard hat on top of the TV, Dobson found a job he was good at as a construction worker; from the play set, a four-year-old girl who loves her daddy very much.

"Who the fuck are you!" Gabriel turns and sees Dobson at the door, holding a bat Gabriel had noted earlier. Dobson's eyes widen when he gets a good look at Gabriel. "You…you're..," he stutters.

Gabriel brings his hands up, palms facing out. "Yes, I'm alive," he says. "Yes, I know you're the one who shot me. I also know you were set up, I just don't know why, yet." Gabriel tries to come off as non-threatening as he could, and he takes the time to look over the man in front of him. Dobson is relatively young, twenty-nine, possibly thirty years old. Tattoos peaked out from the cuffs of the bomber jacket and some reached around his neck. But Dobson had sad, puffy eyes as he stares Gabriel down.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Gabriel tells him, leaving out that it was his original plan. "I know you spent some time in jail, but I know the last thing on your mind tonight was to go out and hurt someone. I just need to know why. Otherwise you wouldn't throw everything that represents," Gabriel motions over to the play set, "away."

Slowly, Dobson lowers the bat. "He said they will die if I didn't do it," he tells Gabriel.

"Who told you this?"

Dobson shrugs, "I've no clue. I got a phone call a few nights ago, saying my daughter and her mother will die if I didn't do what he said. As soon as he hung up, an envelope was slid under the door. There were Polaroids of them, bound and gagged and beaten, and I couldn't go to the police! The next day, there was a picture of you and instructions of where to wait for you."

"Do you still have the letter?" Gabriel asks, and Dobson says it is all in the drawer in the table stand. Holding the letter and the picture in his hands, Gabriel closes his eyes and concentrates. "I picked my family over a stranger," he hears Dobson sob, "I'm so sorry!"

Gabriel looks up at the other man, eyes full of empathy and sorrow. "It wouldn't have mattered; your family was already dead when this letter was written. You were set up by my father," Gabriel explains, "and he had no intention of leaving witnesses, including you."

"What?"

"Grab your things, you're coming with me," Gabriel says, gently pushing Dobson towards his room.

~*~

"I think he's slipping, Mom," Claire says. It is a little after noon, but Claire is wrapped in her fluffy robe and hair wet. She curled herself onto the living room couch, back facing Sandra as she brushes Claire's hair. Upstairs, Jessie and Cathy take turns at the shower and allow themselves to rest in Claire's bedroom to sleep off the drama of happened just only over twelve hours before. "I looked into his eyes and I didn't see Gabriel. I couldn't follow him because, if he didn't want someone following him….God, I'm just so tired!"

"I'm sure everything will be ok, sweetie," Sandra soothes, putting the brush down and wrapping her arms around her daughter. A moment later, they hear the front door open, and see Gabriel peak into the living room.

"Hello, Claire," he says, never feeling so tired as he did at that moment, more so than when he regained his memories. But Claire does not move from her spot on the couch and continues to glare hard at Gabriel.

The look does not go unnoticed, "Don't give me that look," he pleads. He looks over his shoulder and lowers his voice. "He's fine, I didn't kill him. He was set up," he explains. Claire's eyes widen.

"Set up?"

He nods, "A hired-hit man to take me out by my father. Clearly he doesn't know the extent of my abilities. He figured the shot to the head would take me out for good.

"He killed the man's family, with the intent to finish him off when the job was done," Gabriel says. "He had no where else to go."

Claire sniffs back a tear, "It'll be fine, and we will work something out."

Gabriel is filled with relief. He steps back to the foyer, "It's okay, I want you to meet someone!"

From the foyer, a young man steps into the living room. "Hello," Michael Dobson introduces himself. He sets down the duffle he was carrying onto the floor and reaches inside it. "This belongs to you," he says, handing Claire her clutch purse.

"Thank you," Claire replies, apprehensively. Sensing the tension, Sandra guides Dobson to the kitchen, leaving Claire and Gabriel alone.

"What happened this morning?" Claire wants to know, not giving Gabriel the chance to say or do anything else. Gabriel senses this, but answers her question. It seems like an eternity, but afterwards, Claire sits herself back onto the couch, staring aimlessly out the window. "Had you not flashed on his things at the apartment, would you have killed him on the spot?"

Without missing a beat, Gabriel answers, "Yes." When Claire looks at him, Gabriel lets out a sigh of frustration and paces a bit before facing her. "I wish I could say I'm sorry for thinking that, but I'm not. I could've done him in anyways, but I chose to do the right thing instead. Instead I chose to bring a man scared out of his wits because the man he murdered in cold blood came back from the dead, only to realize that the guy who ordered the hit was planning on killing him anyways."

Gabriel gets to his knees, and takes Claire's hands into his own, and asks with pleading eyes, "Claire, I understand what you're thinking. We've spent months trying to separate Sylar and Gabriel, but Sylar is just a part of who I am now. But he's not in control. So I'm going ask this, can you still trust me?"

Without missing a beat on her part, "With my whole being," she replies. Claire looks over Gabriel's shoulder and sees her mother standing at the edge of the room.

"I gave Michael some money for a motel," Sandra explains. "He needs some time to go over everything he's been told."

"You think he'll be ok?" Gabriel wonders.

"I believe so. Motels aren't likely to ask for ID when paying cash," Sandra says. "Noah will be flying in this evening, along with Peter. Your father's been worried when he couldn't get a hold of you two."

"Have they found anything?" Gabriel asks.

"I think so, but they didn't want to say anything over the phone."

Sandra leaves them again, and Gabriel nestles his head on Claire's lap. "Have you been able to sleep at all since you got back?" he asks, the soft touch of Claire's fingers combing through his hair almost lulling him to sleep.

"No, we just got back a few hours ago. Even so," she says, "I was too busy wondering if you were ok or not."

A chill tingles down Gabriel's spine and he raises his head with a grimace on his tired face. "You were worried if I was about to start killing again, even if it was out of retribution."

Claire looks away, guilty. But Gabriel only reaches over to gently make Claire look at him, and she sees the Gabriel she imagines spending forever with. Silently, he picks Claire up in his arms and carries her up the stairs. Peaking in Claire's room and seeing her friends sleeping soundly, Gabriel takes Claire to her mother's master bedroom. He uses his TK to pull back the sheets, and he slowly lays Claire on Sandra's bed. Using his hands, Gabriel pulls the sheets and securely tucks them around Claire before settling beside her.

Claire tucks herself in Gabriel's arms, lacing her fingers with his. "Gabriel?" Claire says, tentatively.

"You believe me when I say I trust you?"

"Mm-hmm."

"And that I want to spend forever with you?"

"Hmmm?" Gabriel pulls away from Claire a bit. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"I trust you with my whole being, but I cannot help but be afraid of you. Of what you can do," such brutal honesty, and Claire resettles herself in Gabriel's arms, completely missing his grimace.

"I may know when people lying, but you're not _obligated_ to speak every truth that enters your head," Gabriel says, lightly.

"I know," she replies just as lightly.

Gabriel tilts Claire's chin up, and brushes a light kiss on her lips. "You have nothing to fear," he whispers against Claire's lips, "_I'm still here with you, _always will be."

* * *

A/N: dundun DUN! God im such a romantic

Until next time, farewell and good night


End file.
